Return To Innocence
by Kiva Taliana
Summary: After a slight accident in the Hub, the team end up looking after an infant Ianto.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N This is one story I had on Teaspoon. Some parts of it, when I have read over it, didn't seem entirely right so this is also a slight rewrite of the first draft that went up on . There are only slight changes to grammer and sentance structure, but I have added a few slight insights and rewrites for those of you who might know it on the other site. **

Jack entered the hub via the lift. Which he always did when he wanted to sneak in. Although the hydraulics made noise the perception filter seemed to cover them somewhat. Unless they were expecting someone to enter or leave Jack knew he could reach the ground before they actually saw him. Most of the time it was fun for scaring people - mostly Owen - when they were pretending to work, rather than actually working.

As he descended, he watched Gwen, Owen and Toshiko hissing angrily at each other. Jack raised his eyebrows as the intense argument raged. Gwen's hair swirled around her shoulders as she glanced from one to the other and she gestured violently as she talked to Owen.

"How the hell are we going to tell him?"

"Tell me what?" Jack asked them in a loud voice when he was halfway down. The pterodactyl screeched at the sound of his voice as she flew over his head. She must have been roused by the row that was occurring. Jack waited for the lift to lock into place and he stepped off and walked round to the others where they stood by Toshiko's desk.

All three of his staff now had expressions that ranged from sheepish to chagrined. Owen and Gwen jostled each other a little, either in a hint to stay silent, or tell him, for a moment Jack wasn't sure.

Glancing at the desk he saw one of the devices that they had been checking out from the archive, trying to work out what it did. It sat there and for some reason Jack couldn't fathom looked very guilty. He looked at the three people, who had seen his gaze drift. They'd huddled a little closer together, all staring at him, looking quite guilty as well.

"What's going on? What do I need to be told?"

After a pause they all started talking at once, each sounding like they were accusing each other. Gwen and Owen looked ready to start a row; again.

"Shut up!" Jack yelled at them. All three of them lapsed into silence, staring at him and glaring at each other. "Where's Ianto? He'll give me a sensible answer."

He pushed past them and went towards his office shrugging his coat off as he did so.

"Ianto!" He bellowed his name and looked around and then turned back to the others. "Where's Ianto?"

Tension knotted in his stomach as the anxiety in their expressions increased. Jack glanced around again and then glared at them.

"Where is Ianto?"

Before any of them could answer there was a patter of feet. Jack turned back to his office and his eyes widened. Through the door came a little child. He wasn't quite sure how old but old enough that the little boy could run, but he wasn't entirely steady on his little legs. He ran towards Jack, thankfully not tripping up over the trailing hem of the adult's shirt he was wearing. Someone had rolled up the sleeves but the left cuff still trailed down over his hand.

In seconds he had reached Jack and clamped his arms around Jack's right leg just over his knee and the little boy buried his face into Jack's thigh. Jack was so stunned all he could do was stare down at the child's head, with mildly familiar hair. The pink shirt he was wearing also looked ominously familiar.

Jack looked at the top of the little boy's head for a few seconds longer, there was a sniff and the boy's right cheek rubbed against his leg. Jack tried to move with his human leg clamp but that just made the boy tighten his arms and hang on tighter. Jack gaped, his expression one of resigned shock.

"Ianto?"

The question was directed down to the top of the boy's head but then Jack looked up in the direction of his three other team members. Wide-eyed and a little subdued they all slowly nodded. Jack looked back down and sighed.

"Oh boy."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"What happened?" he asked. They all started talking at the same time again. "Shut up!"

They all stopped again, he felt Ianto shudder and he started to whimper. Jack grimaced as he felt the hitch in his breath, that indicated Ianto's threatening tears.

"Not you. I'm not shouting at you," Jack said gently. The tone of the whimpering changed. He tried to move his leg a little but Ianto's grip stayed firm. Jack stood there for a moment not entirely certain of how to get a traumatised child - who earlier that day had been a very cute grown man - off his leg. His coat was draped over his left arm, but he thought he probably needed both hands to deal with Ianto. He held out his arm and coat to Toshiko. Without a word she moved forward and lifted his coat clear. Then she moved around him into his office to hang it up on the stand.

"Thanks," Jack called to her. Then he looked down at Ianto again. He had sensed the movement, shifting against Jack's leg but still having no intention of letting him go. Jack bent down and started to try and extract Ianto off his leg.

"Ianto, come on, let go a little."

He reached round to prise Ianto's hands apart. The grip loosened a little but as Jack let him go, to work out how to pick him up the arms clamped back around him. Jack sighed and started again. This time as he prised he kept his arms between Ianto's shoulders and his leg so he couldn't grip again. Ianto gave a little cry of panic one hand clenching and unclenching as he tried to grab him. Jack paused, but he didn't pull back.

"Do you want some help?" Gwen asked, moving a little closer.

"No, I don't think I want any help from the noisy, shouty people who probably scared him in the first place."

Jack kept his voice low, gentle, addressing his comment to Ianto in an almost baby-like tone. It seemed to work, Ianto stopped struggling to hold onto him. Jack wangled his hands down to Ianto's waist, swiftly grabbed him and lifted him. He rested Ianto on his right hip and supported him with his right arm. Ianto again reached to cling onto him. His right hand latched onto the front of Jack shirt, the left he got on Jack's shoulder. Jack felt Ianto's now tiny hand grip onto his braces, clinging hard. And he buried his face into Jack's shoulder. Jack ran his hand up and down Ianto's back a little unsure what else to do. Since it seemed enough for Ianto, who stopped whimpering in panic, Jack left it at that for the moment and turned to the sheepish looking trio watching the interaction.

"Okay, what the hell happened? What did that thing do?" he nodded at the machine on the desk.

"How did you know it was that?" Toshiko asked. "Do you know how it works?"

She moved towards it, almost touching it but Owen and Gwen started yelling again.

"No!"

"Don't do…"

"Lower your voices," Jack growled. Ianto fidgeted against him giving a little hiccupping sob. Jack rubbed his hand on Ianto's back again. "Not you, no one's cross at you."

Toshiko had paused and looked at Jack for instruction. Jack shook his head then nodded at the offending item.

"No, it just looked guilty of something."

"It's an inanimate object, how can it look guilty?" Owen snapped.

"Maybe it was reflecting you," Jack snapped back. Owen flinched. Jack ignored him and looked at Gwen. Out of the three of them, he'd get the best sense out of her. "So what happened?"

"We were just running scans on the thing, all the basics. Owen put it through the microtron."

"And I used the particle scanner on it," Toshiko added.

"And?" Jack asked.

"Nothing," Gwen said. "It was doing nothing. We were gonna give up and Ianto was collecting everything to take back down to the archive. He walked near it and all of a sudden it lit up, there was this beam of light. Ianto was caught in it, there was this flash and…"

Gwen waved a hand in the direction of little Ianto, now firmly attached to Jack.

"… that."

"Then when I tried to examine him, he threw a huge tantrum," Owen said. Jack gave him a very level glare, he had to communicate his anger visually since every time he raised his voice Ianto became upset. Jack figured the best thing to do was avoid that.

"He's just lost twenty odd years of his life, I think I'd be inclined to throw a tantrum if that happened to me."

"If that happened to you all you'd lose is a few of those grey hairs," Owen retorted. Jack blue eyes blazed, Owen looked a little rueful and Gwen stepped between them.

"He got upset and we weren't sure what to do with him. At the time it didn't seem like he recognised any of us. Owen wanted to see if he could reverse what had happened but we didn't get a chance and Ianto started running around the hub in a panic."

"He got even worse when we tried to stop him, but we didn't want him to hurt himself," Toshiko said. She sounded very upset herself. Jack hefted Ianto in his arms a little, cuddling him closer, Ianto clung on harder.

"There's no where safe in the hub for him, well maybe …" Owen started. Jack intercepted him.

"That nice bullet hole feature in your chest is going to have a few friends if any of your following sentences contain the word vault."

Owen stopped talking.

Gwen moved towards Jack, staying between him and Owen. "We wouldn't have let him do that anyway, but by then we'd managed to herd him into your office and he hid under the desk."

"Hardly surprising."

"It's not our fault Jack," Gwen said. "It's not mine, not Owen's, not Tosh's, not Ianto's, not yours. But whatever's happened we need to fix it."

Gwen as always seemed to manage to come in as the voice of reason. Still it was a little hard to be reasonable when people randomly started regressing to their childhood.

"Has that thing done anything else?" Jack asked.

"No, it appears to be inert now," Toshiko said, stepping back a little warily.

"Right, get it contained, get it sealed up in one of the boxes so whatever it emits can't touch the rest of us. We'll be no good to anyone if we all lose a few years."

Jack turned to go to his office.

"Jack?" Gwen stopped him, he turned back.

"Shouldn't Owen look at him? I know Ianto's upset but…"

"Later. First I'm going to talk to Ianto."

With that he strode to his office and shut the door. Gwen stared at it for a moment, watching as Jack put Ianto down on his chair and then very slowly tried to extract himself from Ianto's grip. Gwen released a breath and spun on her heel to address Owen and Toshiko.

"Let's go guys."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

On reaching his office Jack put Ianto down in his chair. As he tried to pull back Ianto clung to him. Again Jack had to take the time to carefully extract himself.

"It's okay Ianto, let go." The grip loosened but didn't entirely let go. "Come on, I just need to take a look at you."

Ianto eventually released him sitting back in the chair. Jack pulled back aware of an odd sharp smell in the room. He ignored it for the moment and looked at Ianto. His hair was ruffled, huge blue eyes stared at Jack, the rims red and his face blotchy and covered in dried tears.

"Ianto, do you remember what happened?" Jack asked him gently. Ianto blinked and then brought his hands up to his face hiding behind them. Jack took his wrists and pulled them away, Ianto's lower lip trembled and tears shone in his eyes.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Jack asked.

One tear rolled out of Ianto's left eye and he struggled against Jack's grip. Jack let his hands go and again Ianto covered his face. For a moment Jack just looked at him. Sat in his chair and swamped by the shirt that had fitted him perfectly not two hours ago he now looked incredibly tiny. Jack looked him up and down guessing him to be about three, or four perhaps. It was hard to tell. He was going to have to get Owen to try and work it out but that was a physical aspect, he needed a mental perspective.

He watched as Ianto lowered his hands. Jack for a second caught a glimpse of Ianto's blue eyes then he hid in his hands again. He knew he could have forced him to pay attention but Jack didn't want to upset him any further. The trouble was Jack didn't know how to deal with kids. He liked them, they always seemed rather sweet but his interaction with them had been very minimal. His time wasn't particularly leant towards it.

Now he couldn't really avoid it. He thought over what was the best way to tackle this and then tried again as Ianto peeked at him. Jack decided to start with Ianto's reaction to him.

"Do you know who I am?"

Ianto hid again and then splayed his fingers to look at Jack. He gave a little nod.

"What's my name? Tell me."

Ianto put his hands in his lap; he sucked his lower lip into his mouth briefly and then blinked and sniffed.

"Jack."

Jack smiled; Ianto gave a tremulous smile back.

"And do you know who you are? What's your name?"

"Ianto," he responded, hiccupping and reaching up a hand, still swamped in the shirt, to wipe his nose. Jack glanced out of his office into the main area. Gwen was at her work station, tapping away on her computer. Jack pointed at her.

"And the pretty lady there, do you know who she is?"

Ianto gave a little scowl but he nodded. "Gwen."

Jack moved onto Owen, who had just appeared out of the autopsy room. "And the grumpy man?"

Ianto gave a little giggle. "Owen."

"And the other pretty lady?"

"Toshiko," Ianto stumbled a little pronouncing her name, the last little bit almost came out as a second hiccup. Jack smiled again. Now he felt like he was getting somewhere. Ianto had some memory of the here and now. He hadn't regressed back to his childhood memories. As he looked around for a little more inspiration he caught a waft of the smell again but still it didn't bother him much.

"Okay, do you know where you are? What this building is?"

"Torchwood," Ianto answered immediately, having guessed what sort of game it was.

"And do you know what city you're in? Where Torchwood is?"

"Cardiff."

Jack was also starting to get hints of Ianto's accent. There was definite intelligence in him, but Jack didn't know if that was typical of Ianto, of the age he now was, or if something adult remained. Ianto had spoken very little about his background, just the odd snippet here and there. It was very much the same way Jack mentioned his past, just the odd snippet, an odd story that was relevant to the here and now of a situation.

"Okay, do you know where you live? Where your home is?"

Ianto frowned. His eyes roamed a little around the office and out into the main area of the hub as Jack spoke the second question. He didn't answer he just looked at Jack with wide eyes. Jack looked around again and suddenly identified the source of the smell.

There was a little puddle under his desk and he realised what the smell was; urine. The puddle had been partially mopped up by three sheets of paper that had been pulled out of his blotter. The absorbent paper had taken up some of the mess but not all of it. Looking at his desk Jack noticed the papers he had been working on were rumpled, as was the blotter paper that remained. Instinctively Ianto had tried to clear up the mess.

That alone gave Jack enough hints. Ianto's memory was in the here and now, but his mind was the mind of a child, so it probably wouldn't process very well. As he realised Jack had noticed the puddle he started to cry. Probably in what was, Jack thought, an expression of embarrassment.

"Oh, don't cry, it's all right," Jack said. He put out a hand to take hold of Ianto's nearest foot and he frowned in concern. He put both hands around it feeling the iciness of his skin. Jack rubbed his foot gently then checked the other one. It was just as icy. Jack increased his investigation, Ianto's tiny frame shook slightly as he quivered with cold. He was in fact wearing nothing more than a shirt while he had been tucked under Jack's desk for over an hour.

Ianto had sobbed for a minute but he stopped as Jack, having checked him over, went back to rubbing his feet to try and warm them a little.

"Are you cold?"

Looking miserable Ianto nodded. Jack gave a light flash of a smile that could have almost been a grimace. Glancing around he looked for something, he stood up considering a blanket from down in his room. Ianto gave another little sob as Jack moved away from him. Ianto's little hands reached up, grappling at the air to get Jack to come back.

"It's all right," Jack soothed him, and then he grinned. Going to the other side of the door he grabbed his coat from the stand where Toshiko had hung it. He draped it over his right arm and then going back to Ianto bent down and snaked his other arm around him. He lifted him off the chair and spread the coat out. Settling Ianto back down in it he started to wrap it around him, tucking his feet into it and securing it around his body. Using one sleeve, turning the cuff inside out, he gently dabbed at Ianto's face to mop up his tears.

"Don't start crying, you'll set me off," Jack said. "It's all right. A little mess doesn't matter."

Ianto sniffed but stopped crying. He jumped as there was a light tap at the door. Jack turned and Gwen put her head through the door, then pushed it a little further open and came into the room, shutting the door behind her.

"We've contained it, and so far no movement on it. Is he all right?"

"Yeah, upset, confused, but fine. When he's settled down at bit then Owen can give him a check up."

"He's looking now at…" Gwen paused, sniffed and then saw the mess on the floor. "Oh dear."

"It's fine, I'll clear it in a minute," Jack said.

"Do you want me to…?" Gwen offered. Jack looked to have his hands full. Ianto hunched down in the coat, which made him look even tinier. "I didn't realised he'd… is he around an age for potty training or is he past that?"

Jack shook his head, "doesn't matter. I would guess he didn't dare move and it was just too late when he realised he ought to. Plus I don't think he quite knew where to go. It's all right," he added to Ianto, tucking him in even further.

"I can clear it if…." Her hint was obvious. Ianto needed Jack's attention first.

"No, no I'll do it… actually there is something you can do."

"What?"

"He's cold. He's got nothing to wear. I'd like to assume we can have this fixed by the end of the day but in the meantime we might need to prepare for a few hours or so."

"Get him come clothes you mean?"

"He can't stay in that shirt and my coat. It is not warm enough in here for that and… depending on any review of that device and any stuff we can glean from the readings… I don't want him freezing to death in the meantime."

Gwen nodded, "I'll get some coffees and doughnuts and… something else for Ianto. I don't think coffee is a good idea."

"Good point, what is a good idea?" Jack asked. Hell, none of them were prepared for this, he thought. They were all about to get a crash course.

"Milk, warm milk, or juice… I'll look." She opened the door and then paused, stopping to turn back to Jack.

"I'll take Tosh with me; I think she's a bit upset, she feels a bit responsible. She was the one testing it before it… zapped."

"It's not her fault."

Gwen smiled. "Owen's looking at the recordings trying to see if the scans have picked up anything around that time, any sort of biological or chemical reading, anything he can find."

"Okay, we'll discuss it when we've got sorted."

Gwen nodded. She went out and shut the door behind her.

"Now," Jack said tucking in Ianto, again. "You stay there, I just need to go and get a bucket and a mop."

As he stood up Ianto cried out again, Jack had got two paces to the door. With a sigh he went back and crouched down.

"Stop that," he said firmly. "I'm only going to be a minute and then I'll be back. Here."

Ianto watched him with wide eyes as he opened a drawer and pulled out a small circular object. It was like a smooth flat stone, the top surface was covered with small circular depressions. Jack unwrapped Ianto enough so his hands were free and he gave him the flat object.

"Play with this."

Jack pressed several of the depressions and lights streamed up from the thing in different colours like a rippling rainbow. Ianto cooed in delight as he watched it, and it gently faded. Very carefully he took the thing off Jack and tried it himself. He sent up another ripple of slightly darker colours, reds and purples and there was a gentle humming sound. Ianto cooed again.

"That should keep you amused."

And with that Jack snuck out to raid Ianto's cleaning supplies. Ianto didn't notice he had gone, until he got back. At which point Ianto appeared to be completely assured of Jack's continuing presence.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack carefully, and finally, finished cleaning.

How Ianto did it so quickly Jack could never work out. Jack always seemed to make more mess first, and then he cleaned that up before he got to the actual mess. Thankfully, Ianto's panicked helping had actually helped. Jack put the dripping blotter paper into a bin bag before attempting to mop and then wipe the floor.

As he had just finished Gwen and Tosh game back, with about eight bags worth of shopping, stuffed almost to bursting.

"How much did you get?" Jack asked.

"Well, we saw some other bits we might need and some things were so cute," Gwen said. She pulled out a pair of boots, a smaller approximation of Jack's boots. Jack rolled his eyes, that was all he needed, Ianto sending everyone broody. His eye roll finished with him glancing at Ianto who giggled at the expression he pulled. The little boy had shifted in the protective warmth of Jack's coat, sitting up and eyeing the scene with interest.

"And I got this," Toshiko extracted a twelve inch high, grey, fat and fluffy teddy bear. Ianto watched her warily as she crouched close to him and held out the teddy bear. He glanced at the teddy, a frown slowly forming on his face, before he looked back up at Toshiko.

"What the hell does he need that for?" Owen asked.

"Comfort," Toshiko said, her eyes were fixed on Ianto.

"I thought that was what Jack was for," Owen said. Gwen and Jack glared at him. Jack kept his short as he glanced back at Toshiko and Ianto, watching Ianto's reaction and Toshiko's sudden decisiveness. Jack knew there was something between the two of them, some level of understanding that had occurred. He noticed it developing not long after the disaster that had been Mary.

At the time Jack had Ianto under observation anyway - due to what happened with Lisa - but whatever Toshiko had seen in Ianto's mind had caused something to change in their relationship. Ianto had not even looked perturbed by the idea that Toshiko has seen into his head, and in fact he had been kind to her in the aftermath. There had been several long conversations between the pair of them, which had given Jack a shifting feeling of jealousy.

Which meant now, Toshiko seemed to know something that the rest of them didn't.

"If you haven't got anything nice to say don't say anything at all," Gwen told Owen tartly. Owen rolled his eyes but they rested back on Ianto as everyone watched his reaction to the teddy and Toshiko. Very tentatively he reached out and touched it.

"His name's Barney," Toshiko said to Ianto, with some level of subtle emphasis. Toshiko moved to place it in his lap and Ianto took a firmer hold.

The piece of highly sophisticated 45th century technology was roughly discarded to be replaced by the simple fluffy comfort toy. The little round object Jack had given Ianto slid down the side of the chair as he wrapped his arms around the teddy bear. As he hugged it he looked at everybody over its head. For a moment all that was visible was his nose, huge eyes and still well ruffled hair.

He sat like that for a moment, kicking his legs under Jack's coat. Toshiko stood up and backed off, obviously soothed by Ianto's calm acceptance of her present. He moved the teddy bear and rested his chin on its head, squashing the newly introduced Barney a little.

"Thank you," he said.

"You're welcome." Toshiko smiled at him. Ianto's face slid back down to hide in Barney's furry head and he kept his arms clamped around the grey torso.

"Thanks Tosh," Jack said actually grateful, realising it might actually ease Ianto's need to cling to him. He wondered if Toshiko knew that. It was a little hard to do much of anything with a small child attached. She gave a tentative smile back. Ianto's eyes watched everyone warily. Jack looked at the bags. Gwen had placed the little boots on his desk.

"I think we got everything to his size. Toshiko used the computer's imaging software to make an educated guess. I think we could have bought the whole shop."

"Are you quite sure you didn't?" Jack asked.

Gwen glared at him.

"We didn't just get clothes, if we have him like this overnight he's going to need pyjamas, we got three sets of them…"

Owen rolled his eyes again, groaned and shifted his shoulder off the doorframe to go back to the autopsy room. Jack felt rather inclined to follow him, but he instead had to endure Gwen's excitement at shopping for kids clothes.

"What we don't use can go to charity or something," she said seeing the expression on his face.

"Plus we had to get a few other kids things, plastic cups for a start… I wouldn't trust him with one of those heavy coffee mugs," Toshiko added.

"He's not going to be like this for long," Jack said firmly. From the way they were talking they were assuming this was long term. Gwen looked up at him as he stood up, pushing the bucket and mop aside.

"Jack, whatever has happened to him, we are going to have to work it out, and there is no guarantees, you know that. And like you said we are going to have to be careful analysing the thing that did this. Trust me we will use a lot of this stuff… and okay…" she paused looking a little embarrassed. "… some of it was a little self indulgent but Jack, everything's so cute!"

"Just give me something for him to wear would you."

Gwen and Tosh put the bags down and rummaged, whispering between themselves. Jack sighed and reached down to extract Ianto from where he was bundled up in his coat. Again he lifted him up and put him on his hip. Ianto's hand again reached to grip his braces but this time his other hand clung onto Barney, holding him tightly by the arm. Ianto and Jack watched the two women rummage.

"What about those jeans?" Toshiko asked Gwen. "And we had that long sleeved tee-shirt to go with it."

"And we've got to put him in that hoodie top, he'll look really cute."

"He looked really cute when he was his original size," Jack pointed out.

Both women paused and looked at him and then at Ianto, now only in his far too large shirt. Jack saw them both go extremely gooey eyed. Then the rummaging continued.

"Where are those socks, they're thick enough to wear with those boots. It will stop them rubbing," Toshiko said.

"I don't think he's going to be walking very much for the moment," Gwen said. She stood up and left Toshiko sorting out the clothes into a neat pile.

"I bought some coffee for the machine and some extra milk to warm up for Ianto. We'll get everything ready if you want to sort him out."

Jack nodded, he took the pile of clothes, with the little boots neatly placed on top with his left arm. Ianto looked at everything curiously. Jack tightened it against it side to make sure nothing dislodged.

"I'll take him to the wash room and clean him up a bit first."

Gwen dived back into one of the bags and produced a soft cloth, some baby wash and baby lotion. She added it to the growing pile of stuff wedged in Jack's left arm and looked triumphant.

"See, I told you we'd use it."

"We won't be long," Jack said.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Jack ended up being about forty-five minutes. He hadn't taken into account cleaning up and dressing a small child that wouldn't stay still. He hadn't planned to make washing him a long job but he had noticed Ianto's feet were a bit sticky, probably from the puddle under the desk.

It had been a rather surreal encounter. He had washed Ianto many times and usually with a good deal of fun involved. This one was just stressful. He had sat him on the side by the sink and while it filled with warm water Jack had taken off the grubby shirt and given him a wipe over with the cloth and Ianto had refused to stay still.

At the beginning he had refused to put down Barney, and then he had become interested in looking at his own reflection. Jack, for one brief moment, had wondered if Ianto, the grown up Ianto, had actually been able to see himself. For those few seconds Ianto had stayed still, staring at what he saw. Then Jack realised Ianto hadn't connected with his grown up side at all as he decided to lick the mirror where someone, probably Owen, had sprayed toothpaste on it.

"Oi, no!" Jack said firmly. He picked Ianto up to dry him off. It was like trying to wrestle a snake; Ianto refused to stop wriggling. As Jack had just put him down temporarily to get the clothes in order, the door had opened a crack.

"Are you all right?"

"Fine, Gwen. I'm fine."

Jack knew as he heard it, he didn't sound fine, he sounded harassed. Ianto turned on the counter to look at him, blue eyes a little wide.

"Are you sure? You've been twenty-five minutes."

"Look just wait for me, we'll be there soon."

The door closed again and Jack took a deep breath before he picked Ianto up, standing him up on the counter, then he reached for the clothes.

By the time he was carefully putting Ianto into the hoodie top he was almost at screaming pitch. Ianto, in a way, had tried to help. But his helping really didn't help. What Jack needed was for him to sit still. He had always thought he was quite good at dressing and undressing people, but his skill lay in the undressing part and encompassed grown-ups. Small children did not fit his usual remit.

"There we go," Jack sighed as he straightened up Ianto's sleeves, settled the hood on his back and fastened the zip at the front. He fiddled under the hoodie's cuffs to make sure the long sleeves of the tee-shirt underneath hadn't ridden up and then he sat Ianto on the side in a dry patch and pushed the boots onto his feet. As Jack tied one lace Ianto brought up his other leg and tried himself. He wound the lace around with great concentration and then as he held out his foot to admire his work the lace flopped apart again. Ianto gave a murmur of disappointment.

"Here," Jack said, relieved that the whole thing was over. He smiled at Ianto and patted his head, running his fingers through his hair a little to tidy it up before he tied up the lace that Ianto hadn't managed. Jack noticed that now he had finished Ianto was sitting still.

"I don't think you're up to that yet," Jack said and he knotted it up. Looking up in the mirror he idly straightened himself up; how he had managed to get suds in his hair he wasn't entirely sure, but he brushed the clump out, neatened himself up a little and then picked up Ianto. Again as he settled him Ianto reached to hold his braces and then as Jack turned Ianto whimpered and waved his other hand.

"Barney!" Ianto said.

Jack turned back to Barney, who had been tucked onto the towel rail and had managed to avoid all the hassle. With his head tilted slightly to one side Barney managed to look moderately smug.

"Oh no, mustn't forget Barney," Jack said. He handed it to Ianto who took a firm grip of one of Barney's ears and they went to find the others.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The others had settled in the conference room. Gwen was distributing coffees, their second. They all looked up as Jack came down the corridor carrying Ianto. Ianto had settled his head on Jack's shoulder and changed his grip on Barney putting his arm around his torso to hold onto him. Barney's arms and legs stuck out, waggling slightly as Jack came down the corridor. As he reached the threshold of the room he was aware of everyone gaping at him, Owen in amusement, Toshiko in sympathy and Gwen a little bit of both.

Jack knew he was flushed with exertion and frustration. His shirt was damp across the front in small dark patches across the navy blue and his hair also flopped onto his forehead where it was wet. Ianto, in comparison, looked positively serene and angelic. Jack watched Toshiko and Gwen look him up and down, seeing the tiny boots on his feet, the neat little hoodie top and Barney clutched close. Jack stayed still for one minute to allow the 'awww cute' factor to settle. Then he moved forward.

"Well," Owen said to Jack, grinning broadly. "I think you have been superseded as the best dressed member of the Torchwood team."

Ianto raised his head at Owen's voice and he looked around the room with interest.

"I think Ianto was always in the running for that title," Gwen said trying, unsuccessfully, not to snigger.

"Okay, Little Ianto is cute, Grown-Up Jack feels a little harassed. You've had time to put something good together."

"Not coffee," Owen said, eyeing Gwen's battle with the coffee machine with wary amusement. Gwen glared at him and then turned to Jack.

"We could have helped with him. There's no point in embarrassing yourself over that."

Jack looked at Gwen. "I think we need to keep the dressing, upsets and embarrassing toilet incidents to being dealt with by one person. Ianto is going to be an adult, who may remember this, soon enough."

Gwen flinched but nodded. She had to concede that. Ianto probably didn't want all of his colleagues seeing him, in certain situations. Jack moved to the side of the table, to the chair on the right of his.

"Shove up, Owen."

"Why? I always sit here."

"Get out of the way," Jack ordered. Owen glared at him, Ianto watched, looking puzzled but as Owen pushed back the chair and got up to move one seat down Jack deposited Ianto into the seat, settling him before dropping down into his own seat. Ianto glanced around again, before turning his head, resting his chin on Barney, to settle his gaze on Jack.

Gwen put his coffee in front of him.

"Not the usual standard."

"I don't care," Jack said. He sipped it and slapped his tongue against the roof of his mouth. The coffee wasn't bad, it was good. Gwen had done a fairly reasonable job of it. What Ianto did just defied normality. Now, it was trapped somewhere in a child's brain.

"I got him milk, I warmed it. It seems about right." Gwen took an experimental sip. Ianto looked up. He hadn't had anything since… Jack thought… at least three hours… two of them as a child. Gwen held out the cup, Ianto stretched for it, still trying to hold Barney. Jack reached over and tugged on Barney's ear, Ianto frowned and tightened his grip.

"You can't hold Barney and your drink. Barney can sit on the table."

Ianto slowly released his grip. Jack put Barney on the table and Gwen gave Ianto the milk making sure he was holding it in both hands before she let go of the plastic cup.

"It's one that is meant to stop drips and spills so it should be all right," she said. "We bought the best one we could find."

She was right, Jack thought as he watched Ianto, they couldn't trust him with the large coffee cups. He had no grip and the enamel pieces were way too heavy for him. That would have been a disaster. Ianto stared at the cup for a moment before taking a tentative sip through the soft straw in the lid, and then he started to drink enthusiastically.

Jack settled Barney, sitting him down on the table. However, his stuffing had been shifted around inside him, so as Jack put him down he tilted backwards. He sat like that for a while before slowly, and rather drunkenly, tipping even further backwards, until he keeled over onto his back. His stuffed legs and arms stuck up in the air, flopping a little on landing. Jack watched his progress and started to laugh as he watched it.

Ianto stopped drinking his milk to look at Jack in shock. He gave a bright smile, realising Jack was happy and then he went back to drinking his milk.

Toshiko smiling as well reached across the table. She took hold of Barney and sat him back up. Shifting him around a little she plumped him slightly, pushing his stuffing about; moving him so he was sat a little forward, almost hunched at the shoulders and his head tilted to the side. As she let him go her hand hovered behind him waiting for him to drop back again, but he stayed where he was and she sat back in her chair.

"Thanks," Jack said, while Ianto regarded the scene intently.

Toshiko looked at Jack and smiled. There was something in her eyes, a happiness as she looked from Ianto to Jack but it was counter-balanced by something else. Something so terribly hurtful Jack wanted to know why she thought buying Barney was a good idea. How had she so instinctively known that?

Jack, however, wasn't about to question her motives, not in the middle of the crisis they had. Whatever she knew about Ianto, was not his to understand. Toshiko had helped and for the moment all Jack could be was grateful.

"So? Where are we?" He asked as he got back to the matter in hand.

"We'd know more if I could examine him," Owen said. Jack raised his eyebrows.

"Go ahead."

Owen stood up, picking the scanner he planned to use on Ianto. All of them looked to Ianto as he squeaked and scrabbled away, climbing over the arm of the chair, almost tipping over to he landed head first on the floor. Almost, Jack thought as he lunged forward to grab Ianto, clinging around his waist and slowly lifting him to stand him on the table. Owen rescued the plastic mug from the floor.

"Don't do that!" Jack took Ianto by the waist and held him steady. "It's okay," Jack said kissing Ianto lightly on the top of his head. "Stand there."

Ianto whimpered as Owen moved forward with the scanner. Ianto's nice, new, cute, boots scraped against the table top squeaking slightly as the two materials met. Jack shook him gently and squeezed where he gripped Ianto around his waist.

"Oi stop it, I'm here, Owen's not going to hurt you."

Ianto still squirmed a little as Owen used the device and ran the green light from the top of Ianto's head down to his feet. Then he turned away and started to use the PDA to transfer the data to the main Torchwood computer.

"All done," Jack said. He lifted Ianto again and sat back down, putting Ianto into his lap, thinking that he might feel a little more secure there. "Silly."

Ianto looked up at Jack and then leant over to drop his head against Jack's collarbone. Then Ianto lifted his head again and stretched his hand out for Jack's coffee cup.

"No, I don't think you are having that," Jack said.

"Here, hang on," Toshiko rose from her chair and reached over to pick up Ianto's discarded mug and she handed it to Jack who shook the cup lightly and then lifted the lid to find it almost empty.

"Gwen, could you…?"

"Sure," said Gwen, getting up to take the cup and refill it.

"He is a little dehydrated," Owen commented. "Milk is probably the best thing for him, and he needs to eat, we've got some doughnuts… although I'm not entirely sure about the sugar."

"It's fine," Jack said. "Is there anything else?"

"Okay," Owen looked at his reading as Gwen gave Ianto his milk and Toshiko put two doughnuts on a plate and put them in front of Jack. Ianto eyed them with interest, and without even looking away from Owen Jack automatically reached to help Ianto with the cup.

"He's three years, five months, seven days, two hours, eighteen minutes and thirty seven seconds old," Owen said. "I've got his DNA on the database, and correspond with his last sample, taken two months ago, that's what I get. He literally has been youthenised."

"And that device did that?" Jack asked. Owen pressed a button and bought up the CCTV footage. As it played out Toshiko commentated.

"Yes, the light beam came from it as Ianto just walked up to it. It wasn't doing anything until… all the readings were null."

"Had anyone crossed the path where the beam came before him?"

"Yes," Gwen said.

"Had Ianto touched it much?"

During the conversation, Ianto stopped drinking and tried to put the cup back on the table. Without breaking his sentence or even looking down Jack took the cup and put it on the table. He broke off a bit of doughnut and passed it to Ianto. He took it and slowly started to chew on it.

"No, he brought it up but that was it. I touched it the most," Toshiko said.

"Okay, so we can rule out a DNA transfer. That thing has been down there fifteen years, Ianto hasn't touched it before now."

"No, the crate I pulled it out of was sealed, and covered in cobwebs," Toshiko said. "He had no direct physical contact with it."

"Until the moment he picked it up to take it away." Owen froze the footage and backed it up slightly.

"Or he was in close range at the time. I don't think he had actually got his hand on it just then" Gwen said tilting her head as she peered at the screen.

"Right," Jack said. "What was the time delay from the last test before it 'zapped'"

"Seven minutes, ten seconds," Toshiko said.

Jack calculated that in his head by an entirely different clock. "So maybe whatever we did powered it, perhaps."

"And then, when it had a target it… zapped." Gwen said.

"I think we have another new word for the Torchwood vocabulary. The only icky thing we've had so far is Ianto's little accident under your desk."

"Hey," Jack warned.

Owen raised his hands. "I like the words, they are very apt, and I don't care where they came from."

"Try this one…"

"No swearing," Jack said before Gwen could finish her sentence. Ianto watched them all with wide eyes. Jack broke off another snippet of doughnut and gave it to him. Gwen watched them, looked down at her own half-eaten doughnut and then pushed it away.

"Are you all right?" Owen asked. "It's rare for you to not indulge."

"I'm just starting to realise how much junk we all actually eat. We probably shouldn't give him that much sugar."

Jack looked down at Ianto. His fingers were covered in sugar from the doughnut and he was chewing the last little piece before he started to lick his fingers.

"He's had milk though? Milk's good, right?"

"Very," Owen agreed with Jack. "Especially since he's a bit dehydrated, it's very good for a hangover."

"What baring does that have on it?!" Jack snapped.

"Not only does it rehydrate, there's lots of good stuff in it. Besides kids are meant to drink milk aren't they?" Owen asked.

They all looked at each other, then at Ianto who ate some more doughnut. Jack glanced down at the top of Ianto's head.

"That's what I assume from watching adverts anyway," Owen concluded. Gwen sniggered.

"So, what else do we know?" Jack asked. "About the device, not our childcare skills, which are, quite clearly, limited."

"Can I scan him again?" Owen asked.

"Why?"

"I'll tell you when I've scanned him."

"Come on, stand up again."

Ianto tried to reach for more of the doughnut as Jack lifted him up to stand on the table again. The little boy whined and wriggled, only stopping when he saw the green light of the scanner again. Jack pulled Ianto back onto his lap as Owen finished. Ianto stretched out his hands.

"Barney!"

Jack reached for Barney and passed him to Ianto. Ianto held Barney out to Owen.

"Barney!" Ianto said again. Owen looked up.

"What?"

Ianto leant forward and sat Barney down on the edge of the table and he looked at Owen.

"I think he wants you to scan Barney," Toshiko said.

"Oh for Gods sake we're not…" Owen stopped as he received a hard stare from Jack.

"Just change the setting and indulge him, please."

Owen rolled his eyes but did as he was told. He altered the setting and while three grown ups watched Ianto's second scan run across the large screen, Owen and Ianto watched Barney being scanned. Ianto looked up at Owen expectantly.

"Okay, Barney is just over a year old, his insides are made of a polyester fibre. His outside is made of the same stuff. All new material. His eyes and nose are stitched in and no nasty sharp bits to jump out at you."

Ianto grinned up at Owen happily. Owen found himself smiling back as Ianto hefted Barney back again. For one brief moment, Owen wondered what Ianto was possibly looking for. He got no real answer. Ianto sat back, cuddled into Jack and pulled Barney close to him now he had also been scanned.

"Owen?"

"Okay, Ianto is now three years, five months, seven days, two hours, thirty-one minutes and fifty-seven seconds old."

"So?" Jack asked as Owen checked his watch and then lifted the stopwatch from the table pressing the button to stop it. Ianto looked at the stopwatch and then glared at Owen in outrage. No one noticed, they were all too busy looking at Owen and as Ianto sat forward, his expression mutinous Jack automatically tightened his grip, as he felt Ianto's weight shift and after a second's consideration Ianto snuggled back against Jack.

"So, he's ageing at a normal rate. Whatever has happened it has taken him back to that time, to that physical age, not the mental age entirely but obviously his processes are limited now. And he's aging, in twenty or so years time he'll be his real age again."

"We are not waiting that long," Jack said.

"Can I make my point?" Owen snapped. Jack glared at him but sat back. Ianto's hand gripped onto his shirt and sat watching them carefully. He nodded at Owen.

"He's aging normally, everything about him is normal, he's Ianto. Whatever zapped him just regressed him, therefore all we need to do is examine the device, see if we can work out how it powered up, and fired and then reverse it. If it does this kind of thing I can possibly guess that it might have a rewind switch but to look into that, I have to look at it. I'm the best person for this."

"Why?" Gwen asked.

"I don't age, I dare say being dead I don't go backwards either. If it flashes up then I doubt I will suffer any effect. However, if we just keep the combination of tests that we did out of what we do now the situation shouldn't recreate. But that is the key point I think. The build up of a combination of energy from the scans. Somehow I think we programmed the thing, charged it up and 'zap'."

"So all we need to do literally, is unzap," Toshiko said.

"Easier said, than probably done," Jack said.


	3. Chapter 3

Ianto was getting a little restless. They had been working throughout the afternoon to no avail. They had gone over every inch of the device and their research and they were almost convinced they could calibrate it, but it would take a little time if they wanted to get Ianto back to his old self.

The worst part was Toshiko had to take it apart to look at it, which she did using Owen as proxy, just for safety. Jack wasn't doing very well watching the process and Ianto sensed his restlessness, making him play up a little. There had been a bout of tears, Barney had been flung across his office, which had only upset Ianto further when he had fallen into Jack's private den. In the end Jack had taken him down to the vaults to look at Janet.

That had been rather interesting. Janet had crawled close to Ianto as he had peered at her a little tentatively. However, he still knew it was Janet, and Jack got the feeling that Janet knew it was Ianto. She had sniffed the air and given the usual growl in greeting. Ianto had peered further, leaning so far forward he thunked his head against the protective glass that divided them.

"Ow!" he murmured and put his hand up to rub his head. Janet gave a little moan in response, hunkering down by him, bobbing up a little as if to check the spot where Ianto had banged himself. Janet reached up to scrape the glass, her head tilting. Jack raised his eyebrows. They had found her burying her young, or at least they assumed it was hers. Apparently she still had some maternal instinct remaining. Jack noted to tell Owen before coaxing Ianto further down the vault.

The Hoix in the cell down the end was less of a hit. It was costing a fortune to feed the thing and with the trouble of the day it had gone without food for a few hours. When it had spied Jack, and particularly Ianto, it had thrown itself against the cell door snarling and snuffling. It's eyes had been fixed on Ianto, obviously viewing him as edible. Ianto had yelped and scurried to Jack clinging onto his leg and hiding behind him.

"All right," Jack soothed him reaching down to stroke his hair. Ianto clung harder, his tiny hands gripping onto the material of Jack's trousers. The Hoix continued to growl. Jack reached down and prised one of Ianto's hands off his trousers and gently held it in his own.

"Come on," Jack said leading Ianto out of the vault. He trotted along next to him casting glances back to make sure the Hoix wasn't following. As they passed Janet Jack smirked at the 'don't you dare' growls she was sending to the Hoix.

"Are you hungry?" Jack asked Ianto. Looking up at him Ianto nodded. Jack debated the best course of action. Ianto had been stuck in the hub all day, which was probably very boring for a three year old. Even if somewhere in there the three year old knew how much time he spent here.

"Shall we go out?"

"Yes!" Ianto piped up very decisively. It might also, Jack thought, wear him out a little bit. It was getting towards evening and they were no further along in the unzapping process which meant that at some point Jack had to put Ianto to bed. A trip out had the potential to tire him. And as much as he hated to admit it the huge amount of shopping Tosh and Gwen had bought was all going to be used.

"Okay," Jack lifted Ianto up into his arms and again they settled into their method of holding onto each other. As he went up the stairs Jack started to feel a slight twinge in his lower back as his muscles complained. They weren't used to him balancing small children. Jack actually thought he might have strained himself holding Ianto while he had washed and dressed him.

Jack set him down again as they reached the main hub. Toshiko typing at her computer glanced at Jack and then smiled down at Ianto, who peeped over the edge of her desk to look at what she was doing.

"How'd the tour go?" Owen asked from the autopsy room where he was fiddling with the device.

"Janet liked him, she still seems quite maternal, I'm not sure if she has the potential to mourn but she was highly responsive to him as a child. The Hoix thought I'd brought him a packed lunch." Jack said. "Speaking of which can someone do the feeding rounds?"

"I'll do it now," Toshiko said.

"I'm going to take him out for something to eat, let him have a bit of a walk about. It might tire him out." Jack said as Ianto got bored of trying to reach Toshiko's mouse and ran off into Jack's office.

"Don't give him anything that will keep him awake. No sugar and certainly no fizzy drinks," Owen said. Jack pulled a face at Tosh who giggled. The noise brought Ianto back, carrying Barney who had been occupying Jack's chair. He ran over to Jack and curled his arm around Jack's leg leaning against him.

"Do you want to come?" Jack asked Toshiko. She looked up at him, a little startled by the invitation. Then she glanced at Owen and shook her head.

"Owen said he'd make sandwiches."

Jack raised his eyebrows. Tosh grinned at him.

"Gwen's gone to meet Rhys, they were supposed to be having a romantic dinner."

"What do you mean supposed to be? Presumably they will still be having a romantic dinner. Stop that," Jack ordered Ianto who was, for some reason, batting him with Barney. "You've give Barney a headache."

Ianto stopped, still clinging onto Jack's leg.

"You bought him a coat in all that stuff didn't you?"

Toshiko flushed a little. "Yes, a little bomber jacket, it's not overly thick but it should keep him warm enough."

"Get off!" Jack shook his leg to dislodge Ianto and he took his hand again. "Right let's see how long it takes me to get you into your coat."

Toshiko has to smile as Jack led Ianto to the office measuring his stride so Ianto could keep up with him. On reaching the office Ianto clambered up into Jack's chair while Jack rummaged around in the bags stacked to one side. Eventually he rooted out the jacket, which, as he shook it out, he decided did have cute value.

"Now keep still this time," Jack said as Ianto slid off the chair. He took Ianto's right arm and pulled the jacket on. He had to extract Barney from under Ianto's left arm. He put him on the chair again and Ianto pushed his arm into the other sleeve. Jack straightened him up and then reached under the jacket at the back to pull out the hood from underneath tidying it up. He zipped up the jacket and looked at Ianto, tugging on the coat to straighten it up.

"Right what shall we have?" Jack went through the mental list of places to go. Most of the places he went to were restaurants that catered to adults. "Pizza, do you want pizza?"

Ianto shook his head. Jack thought again, one other possibility came to mind.

"How about McDonalds? Do you want to go for a burger?"

"Yes," Ianto said. "Please," he added. Jack grinned.

"You remember your manners as well, it seems." Jack stood up and took his coat off the stand and shrugged it on. Ianto watched him, staring up with large, wide, adoring eyes. It made him wonder how well he was imprinted in Ianto's mind. When he had been zapped into a three year old the one person he had trusted was Jack. That said rather a lot really, Jack thought.

"Come on then," Jack held out his hand and Ianto took it, following along as Jack went out into the hub. As they walked across towards the door Ianto suddenly yanked his hand free and went rushing back into the office.

"Where are you going?" Jack said, about to go back and get him.

A second later Ianto reappeared with Barney. Jack rolled his eyes.

"I guess it's three for dinner," he commented to Toshiko. However, Ianto went over to Toshiko's desk and reached up to put Barney on it. The teddy sat on the edge and then very slowly went into his drunken roll onto his back. Toshiko sat him up again.

"Do you want me to look after Barney?" she asked Ianto.

"Yes, please," Ianto said.

"Okay." Toshiko nodded seriously. Ianto grinned up at her and then ran back over to Jack using Jack's legs to halt his momentum. Jack grinned at Toshiko.

"We should really stop enjoying this," Jack said taking Ianto's hand again. Toshiko nodded, pulling her face straight.

"Yeah, we should." She turned around to carry on working.

"Don't worry," Owen called out from his domain. "Some of us are still working and unaffected by cuteness."

"Thank you Owen," Jack said turning to head for the stairs. He picked Ianto up so he wouldn't have to negotiate them and disappeared out of the door.

As he left the tourist office he put Ianto down and took his hand. Ianto grizzled.

"I can't carry you all the way, my back's starting to ache. I'm too old for this childminding lark." Jack said.

As they walked along the quay Jack had to measure his stride carefully so he could find a pace Ianto could manage. He was so used to walking at a fairly fast pace it was a little hard to adjust. Ianto stared about as they walked. Jack went up the stairs with him and aimed towards the Plass.

At that point Ianto ran forward straining to get away from him. The area was mainly quiet with only a few people passing along. Jack let him go and Ianto ran off towards the water tower. For a second Jack thought Ianto remembered about the perception filter but obviously not. Instead he ran around the tower and then as Jack came closer hid behind it, peeking out from one side before disappearing. Jack heard Ianto giggle.

"Hide and seek," Jack mused, getting the hint. Hearing Ianto giggle again Jack decided to indulge him. He strolled around and Ianto with a squeak ran round. Jack backed up and met him the other way, feinting a grab for him. Ianto gave a yelp and shot off the other way around the tower. Jack followed him walking swiftly, spinning as he heard Ianto behind him. Again Ianto giggled and hared off in the opposite direction. Jack dodged back around the tower, sending Ianto back off in the other direction.

As he walked around again he caught sight of an elderly couple smiling indulgently at Ianto, and Jack playing with him. Jack grinned at them and winked at the old lady before he went around to the other side of the tower again. Ianto disappeared still giggling. Jack paused, a stone away from the perception filter. Ianto probably wouldn't comprehend it, which would catch him out, but Jack thought it would more than likely panic him. Since Jack would suddenly vanish.

Instead Jack gave a heavy, over-dramatic sigh and said loudly enough for Ianto to hear.

"Well, I guess I'm going to have to eat all the burgers myself!"

As he spoke he strolled a little way along the Plass he heard the sound of feet. Ianto trotted up behind him running into Jack's legs clinging onto him and giggling breathlessly.

"No!" Ianto piped up. Jack held out his hand again. Ianto stopped clinging and reached up putting his tiny hand in Jack's. God he was small, Jack thought to himself.

"Come on then."

They walked a few paces and then Ianto looked up.

"Jack?"

"Yes?" Jack felt a little surprised, although certainly happy enough, Ianto hadn't been entirely talkative throughout the afternoon. He looked down to see if something of adult Ianto had actually slipped through. However, he looked down into a bright, hopeful face that asked.

"Can I have a cheeseburger?"

Jack heard the strong Welsh intonation as Ianto spoke but it was nothing close to the clipped tones that he was used to. The little piping voice remained clear but the words merged a little, the voice higher.

"Yes."

"And fries?"

"Yes."

"And ice cream."

"What with your cheeseburger?" Jack joked at him. Ianto didn't seem to understand that. He frowned a little and shook his head.

"No," he said in a serious, but babyish, voice. "After."

"Okay, but you have to eat all your cheeseburger and your fries."

" 'kay." Ianto said. Jack smiled. Yes, he thought, they really did have to stop enjoying this.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Naughty!" Owen said making Toshiko jump. She turned to look at him guiltily then back to the screen where she had been watching Jack and Ianto on the Plass. She had watched the game of chase and then seen Ianto talking quite animatedly to Jack as they carried on their way. And Jack obviously answering him indulgently.

"Sorry, just checking that they're okay."

"They'll be fine. You could have gone with them you know. Sandwiches with me is probably not that interesting."

Toshiko gave him that gentle steady look that told him otherwise. Owen shifted uncomfortably a little.

"Smoked salmon is still your favourite right?"

"Yep; Owen?"

"What?"

Toshiko was staring at the screen intently. Ianto and Jack were just leaving the Plass and she cut the CCTV feed. She didn't need to keep checking on them.

"Do you think Jack's ever been a father? I mean he's been so good with Ianto."

Owen folded his arms over his chest and shrugged. "It's Ianto so…. I don't know."

"He's been on Earth for so long and you know maybe he… perhaps…."

"Well, the way he talks sometime you know how 'indiscreet' he can be. But would he stay around?"

Tosh riled a little. "Hey, you know he wouldn't just up and …"

Owen held up his hand. "No, no, no… not what I meant. I get your point but it works the opposite way. He's been here… what…? Hundred years, a little more and you know what Gwen said about Estelle. That was the 1940's and Jack didn't look any different then as he does now."

"Aside from the odd grey hair?"

Owen smirked. "But to that point, how would he explain his not aging as his kids grew up and old. Could he really bear to watch that?" Owen sounded sure, in a way, like he had thought about it. He was also unchanging forever, watching people change around him. Toshiko sighed and thought about that.

"But, thinking about it, Jack could have an entire family tree," Owen added. "Kids, grandkids, great-grandkids. All of them out there and all he can do is watch. Maybe, he does have children out there, maybe he raised them. Who's ever going to know?"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Ianto was definitely tired when they returned. He had eaten a cheeseburger, fries and half the ice cream. When he had been forced to leave it Jack had polished it off. He had found going out with Ianto, in the state he was in, rather intriguing.

It had always been interesting enough. When they had been seen together they had been looked at. Jack had always noticed with some amusement that Ianto got the most looks from young girls, not that he actually ever noticed. Jack always seemed to get the twenty-something's and over. Which Ianto did usually notice.

Jack got the looks again this time but with a slightly different perspective. As he had walked Ianto thought the city, carefully measuring his pace so Ianto could walk comfortably, and in the burger bar sitting next to him on the bench, with Ianto sending wide-eyed glances in Jack's direction, he had been viewed as a parent. Most people had probably assumed Ianto to be his son.

Interpreting the looks Jack got the hint he was doing a fairly decent job. Which made him a little happier. If nothing else, if Ianto remembered this, Jack at least wanted Ianto to remember being looked after. If he didn't remember it, then Jack at least could tell him honestly what had happened without too many embarrassing mishaps.

Jack was still trying to work out exactly how developed Ianto's mind was. He seemed articulate, intelligent and generally responsive to what he said. But he didn't have any way to really compare it. He had no idea what Ianto had been like as a child. Was he carrying over his personality as a grown-up, or was he how his child-like self had been years ago. They would have to wait until Ianto returned to normal before finding that out.

As they entered the tourist office Ianto yawned and wavered, staggering against him slightly. Jack let go of his hand and reached down to pick Ianto up. Settling him down on his hip he looked at him. Ianto was having trouble keeping his eyes open. Jack pressed the button to open the door to the hub and Ianto's eyes dropped, his head lolled for a moment then snapped back up.

"Are you tired?" Jack asked gently. He was very grateful when Ianto nodded. Thankfully he would probably have no trouble getting him to sleep. He walked down to the lift and headed down into the hub.

Into total and utter chaos.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

While he had happily sat with Ianto in McDonalds, Tosh and Owen had picked up an alert from the rift machine. They had called Gwen, who had agreed they couldn't call Jack back in, because he had Ianto to worry about.

They had contained the creature that had come through the rift, tranquilized it and brought it back to base. And as they moved it to the vaults it suddenly sprang to life. It had shot off into the main area of the hub and all three of them had been forced to give chase. They had managed to corner it on the far side of the hub, by the spiral staircase. Which was the moment Jack came through the door with Ianto resting on his hip.

At the sound of a highly aggressive growl Ianto shook off his lethargy and screamed as he saw the creature crouched in the corner. Jack assessed it swiftly; it moved on all fours, claws making a clicking sound against the floor as it identified a new target. It's forked tongue flickered briefly out of it's mouth and it lowered it's body.

Jack looked at the bright red ridges along the back and the spikes that ran down from that point across it's limbs. Instinctively he turned so he shielded Ianto and he stepped away easing back through the cage door. The creature moved forward a little and then backed slightly as Gwen and Tosh moved to flank it. Owen was at the back, which he didn't look happy about, but he was more fragile than the rest of them. He was hurriedly trying to load the tranquillizer gun again, with a higher dose.

"What the fuck?" Jack asked, keeping his tone low. He watched the thing, looked over at the others and still kept his body between Ianto and what he knew to be a Laxus Mandrake.

"We had a rift alert about three quarters of an hour ago. It was rummaging through the bins behind the library. We caught it no problem, it just woke up as we were taking it down to the vaults." Gwen said, in a similar low tone, and very swiftly.

Ianto gave a little whimper of fear. He squirmed in Jack's arms and kicked his legs. Jack ran a hand up and down his back, shushing him quietly. The Mandrake however heard the whimper and hissed, the tongue snaking out again. Jack shifted slightly, the cage door started to close. Which was what he had been waiting for.

Fate, and most definitely the pterodactyl, were both on his side. The resident creature had clearly sensed an intruder. She swooped down low, giving a screech of anger. The Mandrake lurched back, suddenly recognising another predator. It rose up on it's back feet, the body writhing, the muscles tensing underneath the mottled rusty coloured skin.

Owen, Gwen and Tosh watched as three spikes from the pattering on it's front leg shot out, heading in the general direction of the dinosaur. She screeched as one of the spikes found the target ripping through her wing. It did nothing more than make a small hole, but it was enough for her to fly up again to rethink her attack pattern. Her outraged screeching echoed through the hub.

While the Mandrake was occupied Jack swiftly swung Ianto off his hip - much to Ianto's distress - and he tucked him down against the cog door, pushing him against it and hiding him in the shadows. Ianto whimpered again.

"Shush, stay there now, don't move and stay quiet."

Ianto gave another cry as Jack left him. He shot forward and slid expertly through the cage door just as it closed. By a hair's breadth the end of his coat made it through, brushing against the bars before they slammed shut. Ianto was trapped between the two doors, tucked away and shielded from the Mandrake as best as Jack could manage it. And the Mandrake's bulky body wouldn't fit through the bars. All Jack had to worry about now was the flying spikes, and he would be able to field them in an emergency. He just hoped Ianto retained enough knowledge to know to stay low and silent.

"Why didn't anyone call me?" Jack asked. He locked eyes with the Mandrake, who had caught the swift movement and Jack looked into the characteristic red eyes of a much feared predator. They narrowed as they watched him move, stepping forwards and sideways, away from the cage door. Ianto started to cry, confused and uncertain, and suddenly, quite distinctly, separated from Jack. Jack raised a hand in his direction but he didn't dare turn to take his eyes off the creature. He shushed Ianto again.

"It's all right, Ianto. Nothing's going to happen. So why didn't anyone call me?"

"You had Ianto, what were you going to do bring him along? We can handle it Jack," Gwen said.

"Such a good job you're doing too. Perhaps phoning me might have meant I wouldn't have brought Ianto right into the middle of this. And I could have bloody told you what to do with a Laxus Mandrake."

"You know what it is?" Toshiko asked.

"Yeah, and I could have told you to up the tranquilliser dose. Their metabolism is as fast as they are. Hurry up, Owen!"

"You want to try doing this with a broken hand!"

Jack slowly drew his gun. The Mandrake watched his every move.

"Tosh, help him. Gwen stay right."

She took a step sideways to help flank Toshiko as she slowly backed up towards Owen.

"If it moves, aim at the eyes and head. Might be difficult the speed it goes, and be careful of those spikes, they might not be accurate but they sometimes hit, and they hurt."

Gwen nodded.

"It didn't seem all that fast," Toshiko commented. Jack shrugged.

"It's home atmosphere is 60% oxygen. It is working at a disadvantage. That's probably why it's been still for so long, it's trying to get enough strength up to attack, let's hope we get there first." Jack paused and tilted his head slightly. "It's all right Ianto, just… stay still now."

Toshiko glanced up. Ianto was tucked in the doorway still, hiding against the door frame, peering around to keep his eyes on Jack. Tears were streaming down his face, his huge blue eyes wide as saucers.

"Got it!" Owen said. The gun clicked into place and Owen lifted it to aim at the beast, inching forward to get a clear shot. The Mandrake hissed and lowered himself as Toshiko kept pace with Owen, presumably on the pretext of protecting him. The mandrake appeared to sense the oncoming attack. It prowled a little to the left. Jack moved to mirror it, making sure he stayed between the Mandrake and Ianto. Keeping Ianto out of the Mandrake's line of sight was his main priority. Owen stepped up, flanked by Toshiko. The Mandrake seemed to sense it was out of time. It dived sideways, hunkering as it did so, sending it's spines flying. Owen crouched and fired, slamming two darts into it's side trying to hit the shoulder to ensure the dart embedded firmly into the muscle.

Owen released as breath of relief as he saw the two red shafts of the darts sticking out from the shoulder and top part of the foreleg. The Mandrake shook itself to try and dislodge them, turning it's head to bite where it felt the sting, as the drug entered it's system. It slumped down and they all turned away from it as Ianto howled.

The Mandrake might not have had a perfect aim. But fate was not entirely on Jack's side. Concentrating on making sure Ianto was all right meant he had relaxed his guard a little. Several spikes had flown past him and he had deflected two. However, a third had found a target.

Gwen, Owen and Toshiko all watched in horror as they saw the spike embedded in his throat. There was a spray of blood and as Jack slowly crumpled to the floor Ianto started to scream.


	4. Chapter 4

Ianto ran to the edge of the cage, as the others shot towards Jack. Owen was nearest having passed the two girls to get a clear shot at the Laxus Mandrake, now lying drugged on the floor. Out of the corner of his eye Owen saw Ianto. He planned to leave dealing with him to Gwen and Tosh.

However, Ianto had other ideas. Jack had locked him in the cage to stop the Mandrake being able to get at him, the beast's bulky shoulders would not have made it through. But like everything else in Torchwood the cage was not designed for small children. Ianto wriggled through the bars and ran towards Jack.

Owen instinctively dropped the dart gun and grabbed Ianto around the waist as he ran to Jack. Owen lifted him off the ground using both arms to pull Ianto tightly to his chest. The little boy flailed, still trying to reach Jack. Jack's eyes stared up sightlessly and there was a pool of pool, soaking into Jack's coat. It was going to take some serious cleaning and the person that usually dealt with it was way too small to do his job at the moment. Ianto always seemed to produce a spare during times like this, but Owen had no idea where he got them from. Randomly his mind started to debate the idea of Jack having a secret wardrobe somewhere in the vaults.

While that ran through his mind, Owen moved instinctively. He ran up the stairs and towards Jack's office taking Ianto with him. No one would disagree that Ianto shouldn't be anywhere near Jack while he was recovering from another death. However, Ianto didn't quite see it like that and he voiced his displeasure the only way a three year old could. He threw one hell of a tantrum.

By the time they reached Jack's office Ianto was screaming at the top of his lungs and he flailed his arms and legs around, landing several hard kicks onto Owen's hip and the top of his right leg. He didn't know yet if he could actually bruise, Owen doubted it really, having no blood flow, but he was seriously about to find out now.

Ianto continued to scream. Owen snapped. He shifted Ianto, draping him over his right arm and walloped him hard on his backside four times. Ianto yelped but stilled down slightly, but he kicked his legs a little in protest.

"You carry on, so will I," Owen warned him. Ianto stopped kicking but wriggled enough that Owen couldn't hold him. He dropped to the floor landing in a rather unceremonious heap. A second later he scrabbled forward and pushing Jack's chair aside crawled under Jack's desk tucking himself up into the leg space and crying quietly.

"Shit," Owen said, not sure how to follow that up.

"What are you doing?" Toshiko demanded, making him jump. Owen turned to look at her, feeling a little guilty. He flexed his left hand, it wasn't stinging but he reminded himself, he had no feeling anymore. She watched the movement with slowly narrowing eyes.

"He was hysterical. It calmed him down, didn't it?"

Toshiko glanced down at Ianto tucked under the desk, hiding his face, stressed and frightened.

"Well, he's stopped screaming anyway," Owen said. The sounds were now down to light whimpers and Owen didn't think Toshiko thought that to be much better. Seeing the look on her face as she walked forward Owen jumped out of the way to let her get to Ianto. He backed up a little.

Toshiko crouched down, Ianto huddled back even further. He whimpered and hid his face in his hands as Owen crouched next to her. Toshiko looked up at Owen. Owen flinched a little, seeing the look on Toshiko's face. She gave a huff and then turned back to Ianto, ducking her head as he shuffled as far back as he could get.

"It's okay sweetheart. Everything's going to be fine."

"Want Jack!" Ianto said his voice a little muffled.

"Jack can't come yet… he's…" Toshiko stumbled, trying to work out how to explain it in a way that little Ianto would understand. She looked to Owen for help. Ianto whimpered and slammed his feet on the floor a little.

"Sleeping?" Owen suggested.

"No!"

"Owen's right, sweetheart," Toshiko said.

"Don't like Owen!"

"I can entirely understand that."

Owen winced again

"I was trying to help," he said, rather helplessly.

Toshiko snorted, "I suppose you're someone who got smacked regularly and there's nothing wrong with you!" She suddenly felt very aware that her hands were clenched at her sides; slowly she uncurled them and exhaled heavily. Owen looked at her, his eyes burned but his face had gone stony cold.

"Actually no, my mother was very much against physical contact of all kinds."

For a moment they glared at each other. Toshiko shook her head.

"Go and help Gwen, I'll deal with Ianto."

"You could just leave him there. He's not likely to move."

"I'll deal with him, Owen."

Owen backed up. Her tone was steady, hard. It sounded like she had been about to raise her voice but then brought herself back at the very last minute. As she controlled her voice it hardened in a way Owen had never heard before. Even when she was angry, assertive, there was emotion in her. This time there was nothing. Owen swallowed and backed up.

"Sorry," he said to her, almost to the empty air, if it was listening. Toshiko gave a fleeting smile then she turned around and pushed Jack's chair out of her way a little and she knelt down on the floor.

"Hey, come on, Jack's going to be fine. He just has to sleep for a little while."

Ianto whimpered and kicked Jack's desk with his booted feet. He didn't take his hands away from his face.

"Want Jack!"

"I know, we all do. None of us like it," Toshiko said gently. "But Jack's going to get better. Jack's magic power, you remember it, don't you Ianto."

He didn't look at her but there was a little nod.

"He just has to go to sleep for a little while and then he'll be fine, okay? I promise."

Ianto's hands came away from his face. His blue eyes looked at Toshiko. He brought his right hand to his mouth and started to chew on his fingers. Toshiko was tempted to reach up and stop him but for now, she didn't think he would appreciate the contact.

Ianto jumped, his left hand covered his eyes and he continued to suck on his fingers as there were footsteps. Gwen came into the office and put Barney on the desk.

"Owen, thought… you know… he might need him."

Toshiko gave a smile and a go away look. Gwen nodded. She moved around the desk and climbed down into Jack's quarters. Toshiko looked back at Ianto.

"It's all right, it's just Gwen, and she's brought Barney." Toshiko took him off the table. "Do you want Barney?"

"NO!" Ianto roared angrily, the word muffled through the fingers in his mouth. Gwen came back up the ladder. In one hand she held a clean tee-shirt and shirt for Jack. She turned, walked through the office and closed the door behind her. Throughout that, she didn't even look in Toshiko's direction, never mind say anything to her. Toshiko ignored her as well.

"Okay, Barney can just… stay there." She put him on Jack's chair, then she turned back to Ianto, she shifted from her kneeling position, which was killing her and she crossed her legs. Ianto looked at her, his fingers still in his mouth. His eyes kept moving to Barney, then to her.

"Do you want me to stay here, while we wait for Jack?"

Ianto nodded. Toshiko held out her arms. With a little cry Ianto crawled forward and clambered into her lap. She was slightly disconcerted as he pressed his face into her chest. It suddenly reminded her that Ianto was a grown up, a grown up that had been accidentally turned into a child. None of them were still entirely sure what parts of Ianto still remained, or how he had viewed the world when he had been a true child. However, he just started to cry, clinging onto her. Automatically Toshiko put her arms around him and lifted him to sit on her lap. He clung on around her neck, and rested his head on her chest.

"It's okay, sshhh, it's all right… I'm going to stay here. Shush, it's all right," she soothed him as he cried. It took a few minutes but eventually he settled, occasionally just sniffing. The thin material of her top felt very wet.

"Would you like me to tell you a story while we wait?"

Ianto's head moved up and down, he lifted his head and looked around. "Barney?" he asked in a lost, little voice.

Toshiko reached for Barney and let Ianto take him. He stopped clinging to her and wrapped his arms around the teddy bear, burying his face into the soft, plush, grey fur. Toshiko tightened her grip and shifted slightly.

"Let Auntie Tosh sit on the chair, floors aren't good for story telling."

Ianto gave a little hiccupping giggle. Toshiko held him in one arm as she put her other palm on the chair behind her and hoisted herself up. The chair rolled a little so they both thumped into it rather ungraciously. How Jack managed to flop into it and not roll halfway across the hub Toshiko didn't know. She hurriedly spun round as she caught sight of Owen and Gwen carrying the Laxus Mandrake down into the vaults. They were struggling a little but getting there. She probably should have helped but she wasn't going to. Instead, she smoothed Ianto's ruffled hair and settled him against her. His head rested against her shoulder and he kept his face in Barney's fur.

"Okay. Once upon a time there was a handsome prince, Prince Jack. And he was the handsomest prince in all the land, and everyone loved Prince Jack because he loved everybody back…"

Ianto had looked up at the mention of Jack's name. Although his nose stayed in Barney's fur his eyes fixed on Toshiko.

"But there was somebody who secretly didn't love Prince Jack. His evil step-brother Lord Owen…"

"Oh, fine make me the bad guy!" Owen announced, scowling as he heard the story through the comm. feed. There was a beep as Tosh pressed her comm. and shut it off.

"Hey!" Owen said. Gwen stepped back from the containment cell where they had placed the Mandrake, and where the gas levels could be regulated.

"Jack said 60% didn't he?" she said as Owen set the controls.

"Well, let's make it comfortable, not fighting fit. Let's put it to 40%. It seemed to manage fine in our 20% so it should be enough for it."

Gwen nodded, she also tapped into the CCTV feed to Jack's office.

"Now the evil Lord Owen came up with a plan, to get Prince Jack out of the way, so he could make all the people love him instead."

"God, what is this, propaganda?" Owen asked.

"Shush!" Gwen said.

"So he tricked Prince Jack into eating a special apple. It put Prince Jack to sleep and Owen got his army of weevils that worshipped him to imprison Prince Jack in the highest tower of the remotest castle in the land."

"We should really go and check on Jack," Gwen said.

"Yeah," Owen said absently. Then blinked and shook his head. "Yes."

"Now," Toshiko continued. Ianto listened with avid attention. He had stopped clinging onto Barney and turned him round so he could also sit and listen, Ianto draped one arm loosely around him to stop him falling to the floor. "Far away across the land, two beautiful princesses heard of Handsome Prince Jack's plight and they vowed to save him. So they got the strongest horses from their father's stable and began a quest across the land to rescue him."

Ianto cooed in delight.

"And as they crossed the land the people learnt of their adventurous quest and offered them help. They fed their horses and the Princesses themselves, they gave them good clothes to travel in, and gave them places to sleep for the night. But there were other people, who Lord Owen had in his pay, who spied on the princesses and he found a way to trap them."

"Hang on!" Owen said.

He and Gwen were back up in the main area of the hub, watching Jack and listening to the story from Toshiko's desk, having again tapped in to the CCTV feed.

"Why am I only a Lord? Everyone else is bloody royalty here! Er… that's not fair."

"Might be why you're evil."

"All right for you Miss Beautiful Princess, riding across the land to save Handsome Jack!"

Gwen giggled. "Shush… listen…"

"The beautiful princesses came to a castle. It was dark, made of black stone, it's towers rising up towards the blue sky like they wanted to taint it and darken it with their evil."

"She's hot on evil isn't she?" Owen said. Gwen nudged him.

"Shush!"

Toshiko's voice carried on. "The princesses were unsure if they wanted to enter but Princess Toshiko persuaded Princess Gwen to search the castle…"

"She's going to lead you to your death…" Owen said. Gwen slapped his arm.

"I'm a princess in a fairy tale, I'm not gonna die."

"And when the entered the big hall they saw a huge throne fit for an ogre. And by the throne, held up by a golden chain was a golden cage and in the cage sat a little boy. Princess Toshiko went to the cage and looked at the little boy. 'Who are you?' she asked. 'I'm Prince Ianto,' was the reply. 'Help me,' he said. 'The evil ogre wants to use my magical teddy bear Barney for evil'"

"Oh for God's sake. And he get's to be a bloody prince as well. This isn't fair!"

"You shouldn't have smacked Ianto then," Gwen said. She sent him a sidelong look. "The comm. was open, remember."

"Fine," Owen waved his hands, sighing in resignation. "I'm evil."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Jack rocketed back to life with his usual desperate gasp for air. His hand moved up to his neck by reflex reaction. But it was clear, the skin smooth and untainted. Owen had taken the spike out of him. Gwen had removed his coat. It didn't do much good. He had already bled on it. His shirt and tee-shirt were soaking wet. Jack sat up.

"He's back," Owen's voice drifted over to him.

"Yeah, shouldn't you check him?" Gwen said.

"Why? I know the readings he'll give off. Shouldn't you do the whole concerned thing?"

Jack lurched to his feet. His mind told him there was something he should be worried about. Under Gwen and Owen's conversation he heard another voice, Toshiko's, clear and gentle, talking consistently and steadily.

"The princesses reached the castle, with Prince Ianto riding on Princess Toshiko's horse and they looked at the mountain that seemed insurmountable…"

"I bet they use the axe."

"What would that do?" Gwen asked Owen.

"I bet they can chop the mountain down with it."

"No," Gwen disagreed. "They'll use the fairy dust to make a stairway, or you know…"

"Chop the mountain down… I bet Princess Gwen wants to chop the mountain down."

"I want to chop something down!" Gwen threatened.

"Guys! A little help here!" Jack was on his feet, wavering a little as he fought off the last of the blood loss and his system got back to normal. Owen in the end came down and steadied him, letting Jack rest a hand on his shoulder. He took two tentative steps forward, then seemed to pull himself together and stood up straight, shaking his head.

"Oh God, oh wow, that was a knock out, what happened?"

"Princess Gwen took out the axe. It gleamed in the sunlight, the edge sharp. 'I can take down the mountain' she said. With one mighty swing with the power of the dwarfs behind her she cut into the stone and it shuddered under her blow. 'But stop' Princess Toshiko said. 'There are the vines surrounding the tower. Surely the axe would be better used there. I can use the fairy dust to lift us to the castle.' Princess Gwen lowered the axe…"

"Oh clever…" Owen said.

"What the hell is going on? Jack snapped. The he looked around. "Ianto! Oh God…"

"Ianto is fine, getting the fairy tale of a lifetime told to him. Although typically you're asleep in the tallest tower of a remote castle and we all have to go and get you. Actually I don't," Owen said. "I'm your evil half-brother, so I put you there and my army of weevils…"

"Have been scared off by weevil spray aka fairy dust!" Gwen said.

"Oh yeah, I'm trying to forget that. Still, I bet they make a comeback in the castle."

"What?" Jack said. He started to move toward his office.

"Perhaps you ought to change your shirt first," Owen said. Jack looked down. Blood had soaked into the material right down to the waistband of his trousers. He pushed his braces off and yanked off his shirt.

"But…?"

"On the crystals," Gwen said. She still stood with elbows resting on Toshiko's desk listening to her talk.

"Is Ianto all right?"

"He'll be fine if you don't walk in there covered in blood," Owen said. "So do you reckon a princess will revive him with a kiss or will Barney do it?"

"Barney," Gwen said.

"Ah… all your illusions shattered. Superseded by a teddy bear."

"Is that your word for the day?" Gwen asked.

"You bought me the calendar. And it was yesterday's word. I just didn't get a chance to use it."

"What was today's word?"

"Propaganda. I'm doing well today," Owen said.

"Okay, any time anyone feels ready please do tell me what's going on?" Jack said loudly.

There was a sudden whimper.

"See," Toshiko said. Jack looked up to his office. Toshiko was sat on his chair, with Ianto in her lap, but as he looked through the partition and saw Jack he squealed in delight. He wriggled down off Toshiko's lap and ran to the door. Jack pulling on his shirt hurried to meet him, worried that Ianto might just try and crash through the glass. Toshiko obviously had the same thought, she jumped up and reached the door handle as Ianto stretched for it, and opened it.

Ianto ran out and Jack knelt down to meet him. Ianto practically ran up him. Jack could feel the solid pressure of Ianto's shoes against his thighs and his arms went around his neck. Barney ended up on the floor but Toshiko picked him up. Ianto burst into another round of noisy tears. Jack stood up with Ianto in his arms. He held him to his chest and Ianto buried his face into Jack's neck sobbing furiously, his arms locked around Jack's neck.

"It's all right, see I'm all right," Jack felt the crushing weight of one of his deaths fall down on him. Over the last few years he had been rather cavalier about them. Recently, only the one with Abbadon had made him pause. Ianto, this Ianto, had all the memories, but was reinterpreting them as a three year old. Perhaps he ought to stop being so casual, Jack thought to himself.

"Hey, come on, I'm here. I'm sorry, I'm all right, everything's fine." Jack spun round and looked at Toshiko. One side of her top was damp with tears and snot, plastered down to her breast. She had obviously been looking after him for a while.

"Thank you," Jack said to her. She had done better than the other two in knowing how to handle the situation. She smiled and reached up to tuck her hair behind one ear in an embarrassed gesture.

"It's fine," she said with her head down. She rushed from the office and went to her computer. Gwen and Owen fell back and she looked at the screen, seeing it linked to the CCTV to Jack's office, they had been listening as well.

"It was good," Gwen said. Toshiko typed, bringing up the analysis of the item that had caused this in the first place.

"Story!" Ianto yelled. "I want the story."

"No," Jack said. "First I'm going to put you in your pyjamas and get you into bed. Then if you are still awake enough Toshiko will tell you a little bit more, but you are going to sleep."

Ianto whimpered, kicked and struggled against Jack. Jack held him tightly.

"No, you've had enough, and you're overtired now," Toshiko said. "The story isn't going anywhere, and you know that Handsome Prince Jack will wake up."

"Want to know the story!" Ianto whined.

"And if you behave like that I certainly won't tell you!" Toshiko said, her voice changing again. Ianto stilled in Jack's arms.

"I'm sure she will," Jack said. "Do we have the stuff?"

Gwen appeared with some pyjamas, thick socks and a packet of 'pull up' nappy pants, which she was trying to open as she walked, so she could give Jack just one from the packet.

"Just stop and do it properly," Jack said. Gwen stopped by Owen's desk, worked on the packet.

"For something that you may need to get to with one hand, it wasn't made easy." She handed one to Jack who took it. Ianto stayed in his arms but by the same process, Jack propped him with one arm and carried the stuff he needed in the other. He felt really awful taking the nappy with him but Ianto didn't seem very inclined to remember basics like that, when it was necessary.

"Perhaps I don't need this. He's only made a mess once," Jack reasoned out loud, mainly to himself.

"We don't know how good he'll be overnight. Best to be on the safe side I think," Gwen said. Owen sat down on the sofa and propped his feet on the table and added.

"He has tons of information he doesn't understand. Complex stuff, and that's all running around his brain. We need to deal with his less complicated life, which means nappy pants and smacking him when he's out of line."

"Who smacked him?" Jack asked as he felt Ianto tense.

"I did, to kill his hysterical attack when you collapsed on the floor dead, so don't you start Handsome Prince Jack," Owen snapped. "He can't process things in his mind unless it's explained to him simply. I just explained that having hysterics was no good and then Toshiko took over from me. She started telling the very good fairly tale."

"You smacked Ianto?"

"Don't come all high and mighty with me. You don't have the capacity to be emotionally detached from this, so instead it has to be me."

Toshiko stopped typing and turned to stare at him in shock. Gwen did much the same.

Jack glared at him. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're the man who gave a little girl to a group of supernatural beings, because you had to and the man who ordered Ianto to execute his girlfriend, when you had every intention of going down there to do it yourself because you knew he wouldn't! You're all emotionally attached to Ianto, I'm not therefore I do have to be the bad guy here."

Owen saw Jack's blue eyes blaze and he tightened his grip on Ianto, glancing down to see what effect the words were having on him. However, all Ianto was doing was resting his head on Jack, uncaring of the concerns going on over his head. Owen glanced in the same direction and said.

"He's fine. He thinks I'm evil now and that's fine, and when he's fixed, I don't bloody care what he thinks!"

And with that Owen stalked off. Jack swallowed his anger down and he carried Ianto off to the bathroom again to change him. He contemplated washing him but Ianto was tired. Despite the second wind the Laxus Mandrake had given him he couldn't keep going. Jack carried him off realising that Ianto was still wearing his coat.

As they reached the bathroom Jack pulled Ianto out of the coat, took off his boots, the so cute little boots that were now scuffed and used, and his clothes. He took Ianto to the toilet, a scary and frightening thing, realising just how helpless Ianto was. Ianto didn't even object to the nappy. Instead he just touched it, feeling the absorbent material. Jack winced; this was Ianto, the tidiest person he knew, reduced to being cleaned up by someone else.

Jack got him into the pyjamas, a blue jersey material with a crudely stitched dinosaur and 'sleepyosaurus' emblazed on the top. There was another pair of thick socks which Jack got onto Ianto's feet. Ianto grizzled, kicked his legs and whined as Jack dressed him, a little more efficiently than previously. He was acutely aware that it was nearly twelve o'clock. Which was fine by the normal Torchwood clock, but Ianto had been awake at five thirty that morning and been working for most of the day, until he had been changed.

He looked at Ianto, sat on the edge of the bathroom sink. Dressed in a nappy, pyjamas and thick socks. Jack could start to guess why Ianto was fighting sleep. He held Ianto around the waist and kissed the top of his head.

"Come on Ianto, you need to sleep now. Your body can't take it, I'll look after you, I'm sorry I… please just try and sleep."

" 'Kay," Ianto said. He sagged down and it was tempting for him to try and find out. Had Ianto just agreed with him because… There was only one reason he would, Ianto slipped through the three year old façade. But Ianto had to sleep.

"Owen?" Jack nodded as he walked through with Ianto almost asleep on him. Owen followed without a word and as they reached the hole behind Jack's desk he held out Ianto to Owen.

"He can't climb, I need you to pass him down."

"If this goes on we'll have to rethink it," Owen said.

"It's not going to go on."

"Oh, hello! Finally. Welcome to my world. I appear to be the only person who isn't enjoying Ianto like this." Owen knelt at the side of the entrance and waited for Jack to catch Ianto. Owen leant over, carefully offering him down. Ianto stirred in his arms and Owen felt the fear shoot through him again.

"What?"

"Jack," Owen dropped Ianto the few inches. He landed in Jack's arms and Jack pulled Ianto to his chest.

"Ianto is a grown-up. And a very screwed-up, grown-up at that. Let's face it, his nightmares go way beyond general nerves, psychosis and working through the day to day of Torchwood. His life for the moment is a little less complicated."

Jack paused, cradling Ianto carefully in his arms while he looked up at Owen.

"What I'm saying is don't make it worse for him while he's like this. Maybe a little less complication in his mind will do him good for a while. I don't agree with this little game of how cute Ianto is but I can't deny that it might do him some good," Owen said.

Jack stared up at him and Owen returned the gaze steadily before giving what looked like a very un-casual shrug.

"I'd better get back to work."

Jack let him, distracting himself as he looked down at Ianto, who was sleeping in his arms, and whom they had all indulged. Owen was the one who hadn't. Had Ianto appreciated that? Did he understand it at all?

He snuffled a little as Jack put him into the bed and he put the covers around him carefully. Jack sat on the bed and watched as Ianto rolled over; even in sleep he kept a tight grip on Barney. All of them had rather enjoyed Ianto as a child over the course of the afternoon and it was probably because everything was so uncomplicated.

Jack reached up and ran his fingers through Ianto's hair. He stirred in his sleep but didn't wake. He had said once that they probably shouldn't enjoy this but underneath it, underneath the tears and tantrums that he had pulled today Jack wondered, was Ianto actually enjoying himself?

For the moment things could be solved so simply. With a few cuddles and a story. Whatever Toshiko knew about Ianto's state of mind, she knew how to handle him now, and Jack couldn't seem to do anything wrong. After so long in the background Ianto appeared to like being the centre of attention, as the rest of them seemed almost seduced by his cuteness. But by the same token, it couldn't last forever. They had to get him back. In the meantime however, Jack had to make sure he didn't do anything to traumatize him further.

Because despite finding ways to justify it, twist it onto someone else and rationalise it, Jack had always been forced to admit that Ianto was the screwed-up grown-up he was because of Torchwood, because of him. He leant forward and kissed Ianto gently on the forehead. This time he didn't stir.

"Goodnight Little Prince Ianto."


	5. Chapter 5

Jack spent the night awake, keeping an eye on Ianto and going over what Owen and Toshiko had worked out about the machine. He had sent everyone else home. There was nothing they could really do overnight and everyone was tired and stressed, not just Ianto.

Ianto, so exhausted by events, didn't stir until nine o'clock. Which was when Gwen arrived with coffee, and of course, milk.

"Hi," she said as she came into his office. She held out the cups, stuck neatly in the cardboard tray. "First on the left."

Jack picked out the relevant cup and took a sip. "Thanks."

"The others not in yet?"

Jack shook his head. "I told you all to take your time, so that means Tosh will get here around ten and Owen will probably be with her."

Gwen gave a slight, sad smile at that. She moved around the desk and peered into Jack's quarters looking at Ianto, who was just stirring.

"Is he all right?"

Jack glanced down as well. "Slept through the night. I think he was completely exhausted by the time we finally finished up. Hopefully we'll fix it today, the scans Owen and Tosh did look hopeful. The only stumbling block might be the calibration of the timer. We need to get it right."

"Jack?"

"Gwen?" he looked up at her. She looked ready to ask her question, there was a slightly wary look about her, but she never got the chance. Before she could speak they were interrupted by movement from below and Ianto cried out.

"Jack!"

Jack rolled his chair back and peered down. "Hello, do you want to come up."

Ianto held his hands upwards, as if demanding a cuddle. "Yes."

"Okay." Jack got up and clambered down the ladder. As he climbed down Ianto kicked off the sheets that Jack had wrapped around him and got out of the bed, pulling Barney along by his arm. Jack crouched down as he reached the floor and Ianto went to hug him.

"Hello," Jack said again, hugging back. It occurred to him that simple little gestures like that were not really a part of his relationship with Ianto. They had sex, they were very comfortable with each other physically and knew when to curb it around the others, but he didn't often just hug Ianto, or touch him. With his childlike mind, it was clear he liked that and the comfort that it brought.

"Hungry," Ianto said. Jack pulled back and looked at him. God, he was a cute kid.

"Do you need to go to the toilet first?"

Ianto thought about that and then nodded.

"Okay, come on. Gwen, we might need your help. Up you go!" Jack lifted Ianto and he clung tightly onto the rungs. They were not well spaced for a child so Jack put Ianto's feet on his shoulders and regulated Ianto's climb and height. When Ianto reached the top, Gwen helped him up. He submitted to her hug but as Jack came up out of the hole he realised Ianto was tolerating it, not enjoying it.

As Jack clambered up Gwen smiled at him. He noticed Ianto glower at her and he left her and went to Jack. Automatically Jack picked him up, Ianto looked down at Gwen, anger and triumph fought for precedence in his expression. Gwen didn't seem to see it. She stood up and looked at Jack.

"I presume you haven't breakfast yet either?" she asked.

"We need the bathroom first and then we need to think about food."

In the end Gwen went to the local café and picked up fried breakfasts for them all. Jack watched Ianto chew on a piece of bacon and thought perhaps they shouldn't be feeding him rubbish like that. But then again, it wasn't going to be for long. Then he could choose to eat rubbish if he liked.

They sat in the conference room. Ianto had the space to the right of Jack, Gwen was on his left. Toshiko sat next to Ianto and Owen wasn't in the room. He couldn't stand to be around them when they ate together now. The usual conference room meals had died away, because one person never came. He couldn't just sit there and watch. Although, Jack had noticed that if it was just Toshiko eating Owen didn't mind, he even cooked for her, made her sandwiches…. Jack stopped thinking about that. That was his fault as well, for not leaving well enough alone.

So to fill the time, Toshiko told the rest of the story. Ianto kept looking at her in delight.

"And when little Prince Ianto put Barney on Handsome Prince Jack's chest his hands moved. He held the little bear tightly and slowly there were lights, a big swirling cloud of bright light…"

Jack sat back and watched them. He watched Toshiko more than Ianto. He'd always liked listening to her voice. Her tone was always quite low, generally subdued but as a story-teller he had to admit it worked perfectly. Ianto was listening with avid interest, so was Gwen and judging by the red dot flashing on the camera so was Owen.

It made him think, Tosh would be a great parent. She was so good dealing with Ianto, taking him as she found him. And she didn't seem particularly worried about the fact she was telling a fairy tale to one of her colleagues, who had just suffered nothing more than a mishap. Instead she seemed to just like telling the story she was unfolding, that had twists, complications and a sub-plot.

"So Prince Jack hugged Prince Ianto tightly. He looked at the two princesses who had fought long and hard to get to Jack and he thanked them.

"And they all lived together, and Prince Jack even forgave Lord Owen and brought him to live in the castle too so they were all together. And they all, all of them lived happily ever after."

"After a few ingenious plot stretches," Owen said, coming through the door. On seeing him Ianto grabbed Barney and hid his face in his fur. Owen's face tightened but he sat nothing as he sat next to Gwen.

"Oi, stop that," Jack said reaching over to tug one of Barney's ears. "Toshiko is just telling a story. Owen is not evil. He's not plotting against me or anyone else, so stop it."

Ianto peeked up at Jack and then at Owen, he glowered a little and seemed to debate something in his mind. When he had decided whatever it was Ianto wriggled off his chair and trotted around the table carrying Barney with him. He went round to Owen and much to everyone's surprise Ianto proceeded to clamber up into Owen's lap. Owen winced as he felt the pressure of Ianto's weight against him but he submitted to the hug as Ianto wrapped his arms around Owen's neck.

Jack watched carefully, wondering what underlying subtext he was witnessing now. Ianto had his memories but they were very simplified. His relationship with Owen still seemed slightly antagonistic, not just on Owen's part and yet, despite some of his reactions Ianto didn't seem really that frightened of him. Jack watched as Ianto disengaged himself and struggled down, but he carefully put Barney into Owen's lap and then proceeded to trot around the table, full circle back to Jack.

"Thanks," Owen said. He lifted the teddy bear in his lap and then put it back down in position before concentrating on the computer in front of him and he started to download the information onto the main screen.

Ianto aimed for Jack squeezing between the table and Jack. Before Ianto could get onto his lap Jack pointed at the chair nearby, and Ianto's unfinished breakfast.

"Finish your breakfast."

"Full," Ianto said and almost knocked himself out on the edge of the table scrambling up into Jack's lap. Jack pushed his chair back so Ianto's head missed the table by half an inch or so. He waited while Ianto settled himself and then moved back towards the table to get to his own breakfast. Ianto picked up one of the sausages on Jack's plate and started to eat it.

"You said you were full."

Ianto looked up at him, smiling through the mouthful of food, his blue eyes bright with a 'fooled you' expression. The little boy looked incredibly pleased with himself, having tricked Jack. Jack scowled, making him giggle and he reached for Ianto's plate pulling it closer and both of them carried on eating.

While there was a further pause and Gwen went to top up the drinks. Jack thought, looking at Owen with Barney still in his lap and his mind rewound to earlier in the morning. Specifically when Gwen had hugged Ianto. Ianto had allowed it but for some reason hadn't liked it. As much as he played up around Owen there was nothing truly fearful or malicious about it. Jack looked at Gwen, remembering Ianto's scowl, and previously he thought, he had scowled when he referred to Gwen as a pretty lady. But he hadn't reacted the same way when he had referred to Toshiko in a similar fashion.

Ianto had always known, Jack thought, that there was something, a little more than basic chemistry between himself and Gwen but he had never really manifested any jealousy over it. Now at the stage he was his memories were making him act it out a little. And from what he was seeing, Jack realised it was a little worse than he had thought. Ianto was seriously jealous and clearly felt very much threatened by it.

"Right," Jack called everyone to business. "Thanks," he added to Gwen as she gave out coffee and milk, but nothing to Owen, who tried not to look.

"From what we've got, I am guessing we can sort this out."

"Okay, the particle scanner charged the battery within the machine."

"I'll put it back asap," Toshiko said. "It doesn't look… or rather it isn't too complicated, all it is comprised of is the battery, timer, calibrator and laser."

"Good, but we do have to test this before we even so much as try and attempt to right it."

"I've got some rats, of varying ages so we can look at how the device calibrates…"

"No, I'll deal with that, it runs by a different clock to Earth's, but I know it, it actually reduced Ianto by a round number, a set amount of time on the calibrator, but it doesn't translate exactly. I'm just glad it was on… you can't eat beans with your fingers!"

Ianto looked up at him as Jack extracted his hand from the beans on his plate. He grabbed one of the nearby paper napkins and he started to wipe Ianto's hands. Once they were clean enough he got a spoon and gathered up some beans, Ianto obligingly opened his mouth and Jack started to feed him. Throughout the process he carried on talking.

"As I was saying, I am just glad it was on a lower setting. We need to keep whatever we do to a lower power and maybe test it gradually. I know I want this fixed but we don't take any risks here."

Ianto reached out to take a slice of bacon, he chewed on it as he looked up at Jack.

"If we spend a day on it, then we spend a day. If you two take the machine, I'll start working out the clock and if Gwen could…"

Jack stopped talking as the sirens started to wail. Toshiko got up and went to the nearest static computer linked into the rift machine. She typed for a minute.

"Something's coming through the atmosphere… It's coming down close to us. A few miles away…" the sirens increased as something seemed to ripple through the ground. It wasn't very strong but enough for the machines to wail again.

"Near Cosmeston Lakes," Toshiko said.

"Great," Jack said. He stood up and lifted Ianto up onto his hip. "Let's get sorted and go."

"What all of us?" Owen said. He moved around the table, past Toshiko, who was still furiously typing, to put Barney into Ianto's waiting arms. He cuddled the bear and rested his head against Jack's shoulder.

"We have to. We can't leave him alone, a job like that will need all… four of us. We can keep him safe…"

Owen looked unconvinced. "Surely we could find a play scheme or childminder."

"We don't have any time to waste."

"It's Saturday," Gwen said suddenly. Both Owen and Jack turned to her. Jack shook his head and shrugged.

"So?"

"The weekend, Rhys is off, he's at home today. I'm sure he wouldn't mind… you know… babysitting."

"What?" Jack said.

"Jack, they've alerted the military, we need to go," Toshiko said. Jack sighed and then slowly nodded.

"Does Rhys know what's happened?"

"No," Gwen shook her head emphatically. "I don't tell him everything!"

"You'd better call him."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Gwen led the way into her flat. She had updated Rhys on the situation as Jack drove all of them over there. They had packed some things for Ianto, who had not looked impressed by what was happening. As Gwen went in Jack paused at the door with Ianto and crouched down.

"I want to keep you safe okay, Rhys will look after you. Do you remember who Rhys is?"

For a moment Ianto looked confused, but as Gwen and then Rhys appeared at the door, in the hallway of the flat, Ianto looked, blinked and then turned to Jack and nodded. Jack gripped Ianto tight on his arms, almost making him flinch.

"We won't be long. Rhys will look after you."

Both Jack and Ianto looked up at Rhys. Rhys looked at Ianto. Gwen had told him what had happened but he hadn't really believed it, until he looked at the little boy and at the blue eyes. There was never any mistaking someone's eyes. They were most definitely Ianto's.

"Sure," Rhys said. He looked up at Gwen. "So is he three or adult or what?"

"Or what?" Jack said. "He remembers us and Torchwood but his mind is three so… simplicity is the key here. Treat him like he's three. Well… three and a half. There's everything here, a change of clothes, just in case."

Rhys saw Ianto glare up at Jack, understanding the euphemism, perhaps. Ianto's grip tightened on Barney's arm. Jack kissed Ianto on the forehead.

"We'll be as quick as we can, now just be good."

Ianto pouted, Jack got up. He really didn't want to leave Ianto. Not even with someone as trustworthy as Rhys. Ianto wouldn't come to any harm. Gwen kissed Rhys, Ianto looked up sharply.

"Jack, we'd better…" Gwen turned and went down the stairs. Jack looked at Ianto and then at Rhys.

"Thanks."

"Go on, we'll be fine. He's really just three right?"

"Yeah," Jack said. He put his hand on Ianto's head very reluctant to leave him. Perhaps they could take Rhys and Ianto with them. The SUV wouldn't fit them but…. No, Jack told himself sternly, he didn't know what they were going to find. He couldn't take either of them into that uncertainty.

"Okay, I'll be as quick as I can."

Rhys took one of Ianto's hands, the one that wasn't clinging to Barney. Jack turned and reached the stairs. Ianto snatched his hand from Rhys' and ran to Jack. Jack spun round, hearing the sounds, Ianto lifted his arms.

"Barney!"

Ianto held him out to Jack.

"No, you keep Barney." Jack said. Ianto moved further forward and pushed Barney against Jack.

"Got to take him!" Ianto said.

"Jack!" Owen yelled in his comm.

"In a minute!" Jack snapped.

"Barney!" Ianto roared. Jack took him as Ianto practically threw the teddy bear at him. "Got to take him!"

Jack was too frightened to refuse the request, or rather angrily delivered order. He tucked the teddy under his arm, Ianto relaxed a little.

"You want Barney to come with me?"

Ianto nodded, scowling violently, as if he didn't understand why Jack didn't just comply, because it was so obvious.

"Jack," Toshiko's voice came over the comm. "Barney's got magic powers. He revived you in the story. He's thinking Barney will protect you."

Facts slammed together in Jack's mind. In the fairy tale, Barney had revived him. The previous night the encounter had left Jack dead and Toshiko telling the fairy tale. Or maybe simply, Ianto wanted Jack to take a reminder, a token of himself since he couldn't come along and deep down he had to accept that, because he wasn't just three years old. He was three with the memories of an adult in there, a complex, disturbed adult. Jack knelt down.

"Okay, I'll take Barney, and we won't be long. I promise."

Ianto nodded. Rhys walked up to them. Ianto very pointedly reached up to put his hand in his. Jack leant forward and kissed Ianto on the head again.

"Everything will be fine."

Rhys, holding onto Ianto's hand, realising he had never really done any sort of babysitting before in his life. And he was trying to persuade Gwen that perhaps they should have kids. As he watched Jack disappear, Rhys had to honestly say, faced with the sudden reality, he didn't quite feel the same theoretical confidence.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

He had even less after a couple of hours. They had watched some television. Ianto had submitted to drinking some juice and Rhys had got out the miniature pool table Gwen had bought him for Christmas the previous year. Ianto had played, as badly as Rhys did, and seemed very frustrated at the lack of co-ordination.

As he was getting Ianto another drink of juice he looked out of the window, at the bright blue sky and sunshine. On a normal day, Saturday afternoon, he'd have gone to the pub, watched a bit of sport, chatted, come home to cook something for Gwen that she probably wouldn't even get home to. Now, he generally made things that could be reheated so she could have it whenever she came home.

Well he couldn't go to the pub. But what the hell were they doing inside? He shut the fridge and leant over the sofa.

"Do you want to go for an ice cream?"

Ianto's head shot up and a set of bright blue eyes gleamed at him. Ianto kicked his legs a little.

"Yes, please."

"Right, I'd better put you in a coat. There's one here." Rhys pulled the bomber jacket out of the bag and the hoodie top. He looked from one to the other, then at Ianto who had scrambled off the sofa. It was a warm day, the jacket looked far too hot, but Jack always wore that coat and he never seemed overly warm. Rhys sighed, threw the jacket aside and straightened up the hoodie.

"All right come here."

Ianto did and let Rhys take his arm. Rhys gripped the sleeve of the tee-shirt that Ianto was wearing. Another long sleeved shirt, in a light blue that matched his eyes. Rhys ran the sleeve of the top over his arm, keeping the material of the tee-shirt straight. He repeated the procedure on the other side and then straightened Ianto up, zipping the top closed.

"Well, that was easy," he said and then he grabbed the hood and flipped it up so it landed over Ianto's head and flopped down over his eyes. Ianto giggled and reached up to push it back. It ruffled his hair a little. Rhys smiled at him and got up to find his jacket. He opened the door and herded Ianto out of the flat and down the stairs.

As they got outside Rhys pulled the door closed and then his right hand shot out obeying some kind of automatic instinct. He caught Ianto by the hood and hauled him back.

"No, you don't. No running off. Jack will kill me if I lose you." Ianto struggled a little, trying to get away and Rhys looked up and saw the ice cream van. He took Ianto's hand and let go of his top, pulling it back straight.

"No, that's not where we're going and no running off. You stay with me."

Ianto looked up and nodded. "Sorry."

"Just don't run off," Rhys said as he started to walk Ianto down the road. Ianto flinched as a truck roared past them on the busy road. "See that's a good reason why. Stay with me."

He felt Ianto's hand tense in his. The tightness around Rhys' heart eased. It had been pounding and as soon as it had started he hadn't really realised why, until he had spun round without really thinking and he had caught Ianto about to run off. His reaction had been so automatic. Rhys wasn't even sure how he had suddenly known what was going on.

Still, it gave him enough warning to realise he had better watch Ianto carefully. As they made their way through the city he kept hold of Ianto's hand. If nothing else Rhys didn't much like to contemplate what Jack would do to him if something happened to Ianto. Plus, Rhys didn't want anything to happen to Ianto either. He glanced down at him, and Ianto glanced up, grinning at Rhys. As they reached the edge of the park moving into the shade of the trees Ianto pulled against Rhys' restraining hand.

He let him go, watching carefully as Ianto ran off, weaving around the line of huge trees.

"Not near the road!" Rhys called to him as Ianto circled a huge conker tree running up the hill towards the pavement. At his shout Ianto changed his trajectory and ran down the hill, zoomed past Rhys and turned another circle and ran back to him. Ianto crashed into him and looked up, he was panting heavily.

"You enjoying yourself?" Rhys asked. Ianto's answer was to go running off ahead of him to the ice-cream stall that lay on the edge of the park. However, Rhys watched him pause as he had to go up the hill again towards the road. He stopped and waited for Rhys as he strolled over. Ianto in the end lost patience. He ran back to Rhys and took his hand pulling him along towards the ice cream stand.

"All right, the ice cream isn't going anywhere," Rhys said. "What sort of ice cream do you want?"

"A big one!" Ianto said, finally getting Rhys to the stall.

"Do you want a flake or sprinkles?"

"Both!"

Rhys looked down at him. "If I'm only allowed to have one or the other then so are you."

Ianto snorted and bashed his head against Rhys' leg.

"Ow," Ianto rubbed his forehead a little. He frowned and wrinkled his nose as he looked up. "Sprinkles."

"Right."

Five minutes later they were sat under a large tree eating ice cream. Ianto was licking at the melting ice cream with intense concentration. Rhys laughed and reached for a tissue as Ianto got some on his nose. He reached over and wiped it away.

"You're messier than I am."

Ianto giggled and carried on eating.

"Is that good?" Rhys asked. Ianto nodded enthusiastically. Rhys noticed his eyes, now and again, when he wasn't totally absorbed in eating his ice cream, strayed to the large playground that was a little way to the left of them. On a Saturday afternoon the place was busy, with children climbing over the assault course and playing on the swings. Ianto kept looking at it with curious interest. Rhys watched his curious gaze, trying to work out what Ianto was thinking. Jack said he still had all his memories, somewhere in there. Gwen had said the same thing. The fact that he knew who they all were told them all that much, but Jack had told him to treat him like he was three. As Ianto started to munch on the cornet, his face and hands sticky with ice cream, Rhys made his decision.

"Do you want to go over there for a bit of a play?"

Ianto looked at him, his blue eyes were uncertain for a moment, and then they drifted again over to the activity and noise. When they looked back at Rhys they looked a little brighter.

"Yes please."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Ianto hesitated a little as they reached the play area. The noise was decidedly louder. For a moment Ianto pressed close to his side, putting his head against Rhys' leg. In response Rhys put a hand on his head.

"You don't have to if you don't want to."

Again he saw Ianto debate it, but there was longing in his eyes. As if he wanted to join in but wasn't quite sure what to do. He technically wasn't three and a half years old. He was an adult who had all the feelings and emotions of someone that age, and when was the last time Ianto had interacted on that level with other toddlers and kids? Rhys thought to himself. But he certainly looked like he wanted to burn off some energy; his dashing off around the park told him that.

Rhys took his hand and gently guided him forward and paused on the outskirts of the play area.

"You can have a good clean before we go anywhere." He drew Ianto over to a nearby bench. On one side it was occupied by an old black woman, her grey hair pulled back into a bun. She was obviously watching some of the kids playing and had a bag on the bench next to her, almost stuffed to bursting. She gave them a vague smile as Rhys sat down and pulled Ianto onto his lap.

"It's nice to know there's someone out there who's messier at eating ice cream than me," Rhys said. He pulled two more tissues from his pocket and tried to wipe up Ianto's hands. Ianto sat there, still watching carefully, while Rhys did his best. He wondered if there was a toilet nearby, at least he could try and wash him up there, or even just a water fountain.

"Here, try these." The woman on the bench pulled a packet of wipes from her stuffed bag and slid them across the bench. Rhys smiled at her gratefully. As he reached for them Ianto wriggled to get away, so Rhys hooked his other arm around Ianto, pinning him on his lap while he opened the packet.

"No, you don't, not until you're significantly less sticky."

The woman laughed. Rhys pulled out a wipe and cleaned up Ianto's face and hands. Ianto wriggled, obviously he decided he wanted to go and have a run round the playground. He made squeaking sounds of protest as Rhys wiped his face again. Once he was satisfied Ianto looked fairly reasonable Rhys withdrew his restraining arm. Ianto slid off him and ran off. He went wide for a moment, running a full circuit around the play area before scurrying over to the assault course that had been made of wood, tyres and a few rope bridges. Several children were already playing on it. Ianto scampered expertly up one of the ramps and reached one of the towers, where he went to each of the four sides having a good look round.

Rhys dropped the used wipes in the nearby bin and swiped another before closing it up and handing it back.

"Thanks." He started to wipe his own hands. "He might be messier than me but I still come a close second."

He wiped his mouth as well and then dropped the now dirty sheet in the bin. All the while he tracked Ianto's progress as he scampered across a bridge and then down the slide. He ran around to do the same thing again.

"Energetic as well," the woman commented. There was a slight trace of Welsh to her accent but there was something else as well, that Rhys couldn't quite place.

"Yeah, I'm getting tired just watching him" Rhys said as Ianto went across the bridge again. He didn't even seem to pause as it swayed slightly. The base made of wood slats roped together and thick rope ran across on either side for more nervous kids to hold onto. Ianto had none of that.

"He's not yours?"

Rhys shook his head, "no, is my lack of experience obvious?"

She laughed and patted her bag next to her. "When you've had some experience you end up knowing what to bring with you."

"I'm just emergency baby-sitting," Rhys confessed.

"Not related then?" she asked.

Rhys shook his head, he glanced at Ianto again as he went down the slide again and went round for the third time. Rhys took that as a moment to pause and get his story right. He was not exactly able to tell her Ianto was an adult trapped in a child's body by a freak accident with alien technology.

"No, he's the son of a friend of…" he nearly said 'mine', but Rhys wasn't that fond of Jack. "My wife's. Her boss actually. I was just conveniently around to help out. The first time I've ever babysat in my life."

"Interesting is it?"

He shrugged, "well, considering I keep trying to get my wife to discuss babies and that, I think I need to practice more."

"How long have you been married?"

"A few months."

The woman gave a throaty knowing laugh. "I know which part of the practicing you do at that stage."

Rhys smiled, but blushed a little at just how accurate she was. He instead looked at Ianto, haring around the play area. As he scurried up the ramp he passed a little girl, of what Rhys presumed to be a similar age, perhaps a fraction older. She was having a little trouble clambering up but as Ianto reached the rail at the top he paused and held out his hand to help her up into the tower.

As they headed over the rope bridge together Ianto let the little girl go first, keeping pace with her and taking one of her hands while her other clung tightly to the rope on one side.

"He's very well mannered," the old woman commented. "Aimee's never been brave enough to go across that before, that's my Granddaughter."

"Really?" Rhys said. He wasn't very surprised that Ianto was polite. It was one of the most obvious things about him. The fact that he was retaining it now indicated just how quintessential to his personality it actually was.

"Your first?" he asked the women, to be just as polite, if nothing else.

She gave another laugh at that. "Not by a long shot, my seventh, from my youngest daughter, Amiee's her first. My daughter's in hospital recovering from giving me my eighth."

"Wow," Rhys said. That was, he decided, rather impressive. "Congratulations."

"Considering a twelve hour labour I think my daughter might throw something at me if I say that."

Rhys laughed again. Ianto and Amiee were clambering up across another part of the course. The bridge was a little steadier, Aimee was moving a little faster until she realised her socks were rolling down She bent down to pull them up. Ianto watched her, waiting for her so they could carry on across the bridge together. When she was satisfied she stood up.

While Rhys had been watching them interact his gaze had wandered slightly. He looked along the bridge to a child that was moving along it. He was bigger than the rest, probably about six or seven and on the heavy side with it, Rhys guessed. He wasn't very good with children's ages. However, as he watched the boy go past Amiee and then Ianto, he had no trouble moving past Amiee and that meant, in Rhys' opinion, what happened next was most definitely deliberate.

The boy brushed past Ianto, and pushed hard. With a yelp Ianto flew off the bridge and landed on the ground. The force sent him a couple of metres or so. Which was another thing that made the whole incident look deliberate. He landed heavily on his hands and knees, the force clearly jarring him painfully as he gave a high pitched yelp that quickly erupted into noisy tears.

Several other people, parents, moved forward. Some having seen the altercation, some just hearing Ianto's cries. Most of them looked around, obviously looking for whoever was responsible for him. And all of them backed off as Rhys shot forward. He hadn't actually realised he was moving, but he had got up the second Ianto became airborne. Ianto sat on the ground, crying noisily, probably more in shock than with pain. The ground underneath was made from soft, pliable rubber. It gave under Rhys' feet as he walked over it, probably designed to absorb the impact when children landed.

He picked Ianto up and cuddled him, resting him on his hip, in such a similar way to Jack that Ianto settled against him easily. Rhys wasn't Jack, but in Ianto's mind, he was good enough at that moment. If nothing else he'd provided ice cream.

"Hey, come on."

Rhys gave Ianto's hands a quick cursory look. They were red and slightly grazed from the impact and his jeans were slightly scuffed just on his right knee.

"Okay," Rhys cuddled him. "Does it hurt?"

Ianto nodded tearfully. Rhys shushed him as he hiccupped and another round of tears started. Rhys carried on comforting him and looked at the boy who now stood on the edge of the bridge, he looked half-defiant, half-shocked, sending glances around to see how much attention he had drawn.

"That wasn't very nice," Rhys said in a low, stern tone. The boy flushed but scowled.

"Oi, don't you shout at my son!" An aggressive voice floated across the play area. Rhys turned and looked at the man stalking over to him. Looking him up and down, it just really seemed to explain everything to Rhys. He felt Ianto press tighter against him.

"I didn't," Rhys said keeping his tone calm and level. "That's your job."

For a moment the man just stared. Rhys looked back. Ianto put his head down on Rhys' shoulder, burying his face against him. Out of the corner of his eye Rhys caught the boy's smug expression. Rhys did nothing except stand there. From the tone of his voice, and the way he just patiently waited it was clear he was waiting for the man to correct his child. It wasn't exactly what the man expected. Rhys raised his eyebrows and waited, realising that there was a hell of a lot of people watching.

"It was only an accident. He just fell."

Rhys looked and measured the distance between where he was now and the spot that Ianto had been pushed from.

"I certainly don't think that flying that distance was just a simple fall," Rhys said, he could hear his tone going, exactly the way it did every time he got wound up. He took a deep breath to try and calm himself. He ran a hand up and down Ianto's back, reminding himself he didn't want to upset Ianto any further.

"And anyway, I was watching. He pushed him."

The man snorted again. "They're only playing."

Rhys raised his eyebrows, let that sentence sink in with everyone around them, and then retorted, his voice low, calm and as cool as the ice cream he had eaten earlier.

"Well, then I suggest you teach him to play…." He drew that word out for maximum sarcasm effect. "… with people his own size."

The expression of shock and embarrassment on the man's face was enough for Rhys. He turned his attention to Ianto.

"Okay?"

He felt Ianto shake his head.

"Shall we sit down for a bit?"

Ianto nodded.

"Come on, it's all right." Rhys carried him over to the bench, shushing and soothing him the whole way. Inwardly he kicked himself a little, thinking that maybe letting Ianto play was just not a good idea. Although, he hadn't exactly done anything to warrant being pushed about. However, Rhys realised several kids and grown ups had noticed Ianto's super-speedy confidence on the assault course. Which probably was unusual for someone so young. Rhys just hoped his confidence hadn't been knocked.

He sat down on the bench; the old lady was smiling in sympathy. Rhys sat Ianto on his lap and reached for his hands.

"Let's see," Rhys insisted as Ianto whined and a few more tears rolled down his cheeks. His hands were reddened still and a little scuffed but nothing too serious.

"Here." The woman had her wipes out again, pulling one out for Rhys to use. "They do cool the stinging a little."

"Thanks."

Very gently he wiped Ianto's hands, cleaning the dirt off them. He had stopped crying at least, and he dropped his head on Rhys' shoulder.

"Does your knee hurt?"

Ianto sniffed and nodded. Rhys looked at the material of the jeans. The denim was fairly tough looking but it was now a little scuffed where he had landed. Carefully he rolled up the material so he could pull it over Ianto's knee.

There was probably going to be a bruise. Ianto's knee was red, with a slight friction burn where the material had grazed against his skin on landing. But he could still move his leg. He kicked as Rhys wiped over the slight lump that was forming. The woman lent over and rubbed Ianto's ankle.

"You'll be all right."

Ianto gave her a slightly suspicious look but it was wiped off his face as Rhys cleaned up his tears and made him blow his nose. Amiee came trotting over to her grandmother, she watched Ianto with mild concern.

"That boy's mean," Amiee announced.

"Well, you stay away from him then, do you want your drink?"

Amiee nodded. The lady reached into her bag. She had a three pack of juice in the bag as well. Rhys wondered how it all fitted in there.

"You're not a relative of Mary Poppins are you?"

"You are a very cheeky young man," she told him with a smile. She put the straw in and passed the drink to Amiee. Very efficiently she repeated the process with a second carton and offered it to Ianto. From the safety of Rhys' lap he blinked and sniffed before taking the drink carefully with both hands.

"Thank you." Ianto's voice was a little muffled and sniffly. The woman smiled at him.

"You're welcome."

Ianto started to drink the juice. As he stayed on Rhys' lap, Amiee clambered up next to her grandmother. Ianto seemed extremely subdued and remained so for several minutes. Rhys watched the bully, who was now sitting at the top of one of the towers. And it would appear was going to be very lonely up there. All the other children appeared to be very studiously avoiding him.

In fact a band of them appeared to be clustering on the grass nearby running around playing tag. Amiee wriggled off the seat giving her drink to her grandmother. She almost scampered off but then she turned and grabbed Ianto's forearm and tugged.

"Come on!" she insisted tugging a little harder. Ianto hesitated but eventually wriggled off Rhys' lap, gave him his drink and then headed off after Amiee to join in.

Rhys sat back and watched him. He didn't appear to be limping, which was a good sign. The lady, obviously seeing his face reached over and patted his arm.

"Don't worry, they're pretty resilient at that age."

Rhys smiled. He sat back and contemplated the thought of sitting there one day watching his own son or daughter play. Would they really be able to do it? Gwen was right with her job it was impossible. But he knew she had thought about it. Before Torchwood, before Jack. Rhys felt his jaw tense, and then he relaxed as he watched Ianto run back to him tugging at the zip on the hoodie.

"Hot," Ianto said. Rhys took the zip out of his hands and yanked it down, he was pulling the top off when Amiee charged up and hit Ianto on the shoulder.

"Tag!" she yelped triumphantly and ran off. Ianto scowled, spun round and ran off after her, dragging his arms clear of his top and he went tearing back over to the group. Rhys shook his head and carefully folded up the top.

No, Rhys thought to himself. It was not an impossible idea. Although it was probably nothing short of provocative to have the discussion while Ianto was in his second infancy, or repeating his first. But he was going to have that talk with her. It was about damn time.


	6. Chapter 6

"I'm not getting much from this, although we could compare it with some of the other debris samples and cross-reference it with the trajectories. If we find some kind of pattern perhaps..." Owen paused and glared at Jack. "I'm sorry, Am I boring you?"

"What?" Jack blinked. "No, it's a good idea."

"What's a good idea?" Owen said.

"What you said," Jack replied frowning at him. Owen paused and stopped scraping samples and glared at Jack.

"Tell me what I was saying."

Jack scowled back, and then unconsciously looked at his watch again.

"Do you want me to call Rhys?" Gwen said with a heavy sigh.

Jack stopped looking at his watch and put his hands in his pockets to try and stop himself doing it again. "No, it's fine."

"It won't take a minute, I can just check that they're all right."

"No!" Jack said a little more insistently.

All three of them looked at him sharply. Jack realised by making such a fuss he was making it all the worse. He couldn't help it. Leaving Ianto was fine he was old enough to cope, and it wasn't that Jack didn't trust Rhys. There were just other things that were worrying Jack. Like was Ianto worried about him. Was he assuming that something would happen to him again, as it had done with the Laxus Mandrake.

"I'm sure they're fine, what I want to do is get back and start working out those calculations."

Nobody looked convinced by that excuse. Gwen moved a little away and took her phone out.

"Gwen!" Jack shouted. "Just leave it."

She rolled her eyes and shook her head in a resigned gesture but she put the phone back in her pocket. They had wasted two hours when they arrived battling through the military, police and a few hundred tourists. And quite frankly, Jack thought, they had better things to do than this. Although Jack had to agree with Owen's, 'I remember that time one of these landed and Gwen let out a sex obsessed alien, we'd better check it' comment. Gwen had looked less than pleased by his observation but she didn't attempt to strangle him so Jack took that as a good sign.

Several soldiers were now guarding the area, waiting for Torchwood to declare it safe. Then Jack didn't care what they did with a huge lump of rock. There was nothing particularly dangerous lurking within it as far as they could tell and that was fine as far as Jack was concerned. What he was concerned about was Ianto.

"Jack?"

He jumped. Without him realising it Gwen had snuck up on him. She put a gentle hand on his arm.

"If he was worried Rhys would phone me anyway. I told him to. It's his first babysitting job."

Jack had to smile at that. He had a rather interesting thought that Ianto would run rings around him. Even as an infant he was clever enough, and had a few tricks up his sleeve.

"Trust me, if the slightest thing worries him he'll ring. We should be back in a couple of hours anyway, after we've finished, Owen thinks it's safe enough so I can go and start organising the military."

"Great," Jack smiled at her. Gwen grinned back, a little cheekily.

"I just hope it doesn't make him broody."

"More than it's made you," Owen said, without looking up from what he was doing. "Here, Tosh look at this."

Tosh moved over to him, Gwen looked down. "Trust me, it would be a very bad combination, since I doubt Torchwood does maternity leave."

"Yes, we do," Jack said.

Gwen's eyes widened. Owen and Tosh stopped staring at the meteor and both of them looked up at Gwen and Jack.

"Do we?" Gwen asked. Jack raised his eyebrows.

"We used to be a multi-national, rather dictatorship-like institute, with a very large sky-scraper and a lot of employees, many of whom capable of getting pregnant. Torchwood has a maternity policy; I'll just adapt it like I have all the others, to fit our situation."

"How?" Gwen asked.

Jack's blue eyes unfocussed slightly, as he did what was presumably a quick calculation.

"Reduce your field status and raise your admin status. I'd switch Tosh's field status back up and she's have to take a backseat to you on the running of missions, but then that would keep you in the hub then and therefore safe. Ianto's still in training on the field status but he'll soon be past that security level.

"I'd have to get Ianto to… well… when we fix him… to get the maternity information out for you, if you want."

Gwen gaped at him, feeling a little awful. She was supposed to be having this discussion with Rhys first. But then again, maybe not, she was now free to have the talk with him. Now she had spoken to the others. She just hoped no one let it slip to Rhys.

"Ianto's in training?" Owen said with undisguised amusement.

"Yes, officially since I came back. I planned to do it anyway but events…" Jack paused and shrugged as all three people gave him a suspicious glare. He still hadn't fully explained his disappearance.

"Anyway, what did you think all the weevil hunting sessions were for?"

All three of them smirked. Jack rolled his eyes.

"Oh please."

"We just figured you were making up for lost time," Gwen said. Jack looked at her, raised his eyebrows slightly.

"I was, you took him out on field missions untrained. Although I'm quite willing to admit it is rather fun."

"He's perfectly capable of handling it," Gwen said. "Besides I was never in training."

"Yes you were, technically, but most of the training was on the job," Jack said.

"So you're seriously saying that you're following Torchwood's old procedures and not telling us?" Owen said.

"Adapting them where necessary, and you never asked, nor have any of you sneaked a look at your personnel files. Well, except Ianto."

"What's his security status now?" Owen asked with a smirk.

Jack's face flitted with anger. "We've already lost a day, but by this time tomorrow he is going to be back to normal."

Owen grimaced. "We could have done without this."

"Yes," Jack said starting to pace. Gwen looked around.

"I'll go and sort everything out…" she backed up and walked away.

Elation and dread combated for supremacy within her. She wasn't sure which one was likely to win. Elation, knowing she could have the talk with Rhys and dread because she could have the talk with Rhys. It would put something in motion that for the moment was halted. If it started then she could possibly end up powerless to stop it.

While she worked she didn't try to quell the battle, she just ignored it. But by the end of the following day, thanks to Ianto, elation would win.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Gwen eventually called Rhys when they returned. Rhys and Ianto were sat in a small café eating sandwiches. Cheese and tomato for Ianto and the same for Rhys with a thick dollop of pickle. Before he started eating, Ianto lifted the bread and carefully extracted a tomato slice, eating it separately.

"If you wanted it like that, why didn't you just say?"

Licking excess margarine off his fingers Ianto giggled. He bit into the sandwich so for a moment only his nose, eyes and highly ruffled hair were visible. His eyes glittered with amusement.

"You're three and a half, what am I even thinking?"

Ianto rooted out a second bit of tomato and did exactly the same thing. Rhys watched him and shook his head. Ianto had been running around for almost two and a half hours and had an extremely rumpled air to him. At three o'clock Amiee and her grandmother had left and then Ianto seemed to lose interest in the games. Several other children in the group had drifted off so Ianto had come to sit down and drink the rest of his juice.

It was at that point that Rhys had started to feel a little hungry and it occurred to him that Ianto had not eaten any lunch. Gwen had told him that he had eaten a big breakfast, or more technically brunch. But he didn't know when they were going to be back.

"Do you want to get something to eat?"

Noisily sucking up the last little bit of drink Ianto had nodded.

"Cheese sandwich?"

Ianto wrinkled his nose, and then nodded again. He stopped making noise as soon as he sucked all the air out of the carton making the cardboard crinkle up. Rhys took it off him and put it in the bin.

They were just finishing off the sandwiches and Ianto was again noisily drinking through a straw. Ianto seemed to like the sounds he was making. When people located the sound they smiled indulgently and Ianto smiled back at them. Rhys started to wonder if Ianto was somewhere in there, enjoying every moment of this. The only way they would ever find out was when they turned him back. It was probably the one and only time he could get a first person opinion on his babysitting skills. He wondered if Ianto would talk to him about it, when he was back to normal.

It was then, just perfectly, the phone rang. Rhys answered it in second.

"Hello love, how's it going?"

"Where are you?"

Rhys tensed at the terse tone of voice, "we're just finishing having a sandwich. I took him out for a run around the park."

"Oh," Gwen paused. Her voice was a little more normal as she started talking again. "Sorry, erm… we're back, I'm at the flat with Jack, I just… we just wondered where you were."

Jack had in fact been going spare. He stopped pacing when Gwen had started talking to Rhys but he was currently glaring at her, obviously wanting an answer.

"Sorry, I didn't leave a note, I expected you to call really. We've just finished so we can head back. No, you don't need to do that, we're only ten minutes away and Ianto appears to be in possession of inexhaustible energy."

Rhys winked at him and Ianto giggled.

"Okay, won't be long. See you in a bit." Rhys hung up and shook his head. "Jack's waiting to pick you up, I'd better get you back."

Ianto's already bright face brightened further. All that remained of his sandwich were a few mouthfuls, mainly crust. He slid off the chair and ran round to Rhys pulling his arm.

"Jack!" Ianto said insistently. "I want to go see Jack!"

"All right, let's pay first and then we can go."

Ianto kept tugging until Rhys was up. Then he took his hand and dragged him to the counter to pay, before they set off back to the flat.

Jack relaxed as he heard Rhys' key in the lock. Gwen was making coffee, trying to calm him down. Jack sat up as there were sounds of a scuffle in the hallway. As he was shutting the door Rhys had spun and grabbed Ianto by the collar before he could run into the flat.

"No! Before you go tearing round the place you can take off your boots and coat."

Rhys' voice was followed by Ianto squealing then erupting into high pitched giggling. Gwen who was bringing the coffee tray round put it on the dining room table, frowned at Jack, who sat on the sofa trying not to leap up and find out what was going on. Gwen moved to the right a little and gave a snort of laughter. Rhys was crouched on the floor and Ianto had somehow ended up flat on his back, with his legs in the air, waving them around as Rhys removed his shoes. Ianto continued to giggle as Rhys did so.

As soon as the second shoe came off Rhys righted Ianto, sitting him up. His feet hit the carpeted floor with a thump. A second later Ianto crawled forward, ran down the hallway, down the steps into the sitting room.

"Jack!" he yelled excitedly as he saw Jack on the sofa.

"Hi," Jack smiled in relief and held out his arms as Ianto hurtled to him and clambered up into Jack's lap, reaching up so he could put his arms around his neck and hug him.

Gwen went across the room to kiss Rhys hello. And she received similar treatment.

"You survived then?" she said.

"Yep, with the kind help of an eight-time grandmother with baby wipes and juice."

Gwen frowned in confusion but didn't get much of a chance to ask. Jack had put Ianto down, sitting him on his lap. He frowned and took Ianto's wrists so he could look at the palms of his hands.

"What happened to his hands?"

Rhys grimaced. "He fell, well… was more sort of pushed. He's hurt his right knee, but I think it's only a bruise. He was running around afterwards without any hassle."

Jack didn't comment, he frowned, his blue eyes furious. He pulled up the material of Ianto's jeans. A bruise was starting to form, a dark lump just on his knee. Jack looked up at glared at Rhys.

"I thought you were supposed to be watching him, not chatting up old ladies."

Rhys glared back. "I was watching him. He was playing on the adventure playground and another kid pushed him so he fell off. He cried for like a minute then went running off again, perfectly fine."

"Did you clean it? He could get an infection, or it could be…"

"It's a bruise, Jack. Kids actually get them all the time."

Jack's head came up sharply. "He's not a kid!"

"He is at the moment," Rhys said. His tone very carefully modulated. "And I'm not the one scaring him."

Jack looked down. Ianto had gone very still in his lap, staring up at him with wide, frightened eyes, worried that somehow he had done something wrong. As he met Jack's gaze tears rushed into them and Ianto's lower lip wobbled. Jack cuddled him closer and kissed the top of his head.

"Oh, don't do that. It's all right."

Ianto hiccupped but as Jack looked down at him again, that seemed to be all that was going to happen.

"Was somebody mean to you?"

Ianto nodded, "they pushed me."

"Rhys wasn't mean though?" Jack asked. Ianto shook his head.

"I got ice cream, a big one!"

"Great, so he's going to be totally hyperactive."

Rhys snorted with laughter. "He's spent nigh on three hours tearing around like a complete maniac. He could have eaten four ice creams and none of them would have touched the sides. It was exhausting watching him."

"Did you have an ice cream as well?" Gwen asked accusingly.

"Yep, and I've found someone who's messier than me."

"He's three and a half years old, he's got an excuse," Jack said.

"You said he wasn't a kid not five minutes ago, make up your mind."

"I'm still trying to," Jack said. Gwen moved back to start pouring the coffee's. It was bizarre, she normally didn't make it so formally, or at least she hadn't until she had started drinking Ianto's coffee at work.

"Do you want juice Ianto?" Rhys asked casually. Gwen turned to look at him in surprise.

"Yes please," Ianto said.

"Okay. I'll get it," Rhys said to Gwen. Ianto watched him go and scrambled up on Jack so he could watch him. He put his feet on Jack's thighs and leant against him over his shoulder. As he did so one of Ianto's feet slipped heavily into Jack's groin. By reflex Jack grabbed him around the waist and lifted him. Ianto yelped then giggled again, unaware of what he had actually done.

"When you're back to normal you'll be sorry you did that!" Jack said, his voice slightly thick with pain. Gwen smirked and put a coffee on the table in front of Jack. Jack sat Ianto down on the sofa next to him and Ianto leant against him. Jack put one arm around his shoulders and reached for his coffee. Rhys leant over the sofa and offered Ianto his juice in the plastic cup that Jack had packed in the bag. Rhys waited until Ianto had a sure grip of it and then let go. Ianto started to drink, gulping loudly.

"Is he always this noisy when he's grown up?" Rhys asked.

"No? Why?"

"Just wondered," Rhys asked. He moved to the side of the sofa where Gwen sat and perched on the arm and took his coffee off her. "Thanks."

For a moment the only sound was Ianto slurping. Then he squeaked as he dribbled. Juice ran down his chin and he tried to lick at it. Rhys rolled his eyes and went into the kitchen pulling off a wedge of kitchen roll. Gwen reached to take the cup off Ianto and Rhys leaned over, mopping up Ianto's face and chest.

"You're definitely muckier than me," Rhys announced as he dabbed at Ianto's top.

In more ways than one usually, Jack thought to himself. Ianto however just looked up at Rhys with a bright smile, sitting still and letting him tidy him up. They had only been together for a few hours as carer and small child but Rhys seemed to be coping really well. Jack noticed Gwen watching them very intently. He was quite glad the issue of maternity leave had come up, if that was what Gwen and Rhys were thinking about, they deserved to know they could do it.

"So what's this about you chatting up old ladies?" Gwen asked. Rhys grinned.

"She seduced me with her baby wipes. And I wasn't the only one, someone got himself a girlfriend." He rubbed Ianto's nose with the damp kitchen towel. Ianto giggled.

"Really?" Gwen asked. Rhys laughed.

"When he was playing on the adventure playground he teamed up with my old lady's granddaughter. Very gentlemanly he was, helped her over the rope bridge and everything."

"Oh yeah?" Jack asked he put his coffee down and one hand snaked out to grab Ianto's feet. He yelped as Jack started to tickle him and he struggled away from him across the sofa. Rhys took the juice cup out of Gwen's hand as Ianto clambered over to her. He was squeaking and giggling and he hefted himself into her lap, dropped his head against her shoulder as he panted for breath. She automatically put his arms around him.

Jack paused, it was the first time that Ianto had made a voluntary gesture towards her. Toshiko he didn't mind in the slightest and even Owen he accepted. With Gwen however, Ianto's mind moved into more complicated territory. In a way she confused him, the grown-up him; her reactions, anger, compassion, initiative, determination, things which often contradicted within her. Jack remembered Ianto saying once that he still never knew quite what to expect from her, never more so during the time that Jack was absent.

Gwen had taken over, despite Owen being official Second-in-Command. He was the only person Jack could give the job to, because Gwen was so new. But she had taken over, she had led. Ianto was the only one who hadn't really accepted it, but as the only way he could cope, he had pretended it was fine. Like everything else that had screwed up in his life was fine, that he could cope with it.

In a way Ianto loved Gwen as much as he loved the rest of the team but deep down there was a deeply sown seed of hatred that, like bindweed in a neglected garden, could only be controlled, not removed.

Still now, Gwen put her arms around Ianto, cuddling him, putting her face down into his hair, taking in his scent, the sudden babyishness of him, the fresh air and the innocence. For a moment Jack saw the sudden longing in her eyes. As much as she fought against the idea of children; logically she didn't think it was safe considering her circumstances. She wanted them, she wanted to have children with Rhys. As much as she loved Jack, she loved Rhys and in the end, he could truly provide what she wanted.

"So what's this girl's name then?" Jack asked, still trying to get at Ianto's feet. Ianto squealed again and pulled his legs up, tucking his knees close to his chest and resting his feet on Gwen's thigh.

"Amiee," Rhys said. "She was very cute. She was!" Rhys added as Gwen looked up at him.

"So what would you like a girl or a boy?"

Rhys looked stunned by the question. Gwen looked equally stunned that she had asked it. Jack grimaced.

"On that note I think we will take our leave." He stood up. Ianto wriggled away from Gwen to clamber over to him and Jack picked him up. "I want to start the calibrations for the reversal process."

"Are you staying at the hub again?" Gwen asked. "That's hardly comfortable."

"If you want to work, Ianto could stay here," Rhys offered. "Or both of you, if we set up the camp bed and…"

"No, no, it's fine," Jack said picking Ianto up. "I'll go to the hub and get everything we need. Ianto's house keys are there, I'll take him home, better fixtures there. We'll be fine." He cuddled Ianto close and backed up a little.

"Thanks for the coffee, and thanks for minding him."

"Not a problem," Rhys said with a shrug. "I enjoyed it."

"Come on you, time we were off, where are your shoes?"

"On the mat," Rhys said helpfully. Jack paused.

"Has he been to the toilet recently?"

"Twice, once in the park toilets and in the cafe. It was fine," Rhys added, seeing the look on Jack's face. Ianto had managed most of it himself, there had just been a little bit of tiding Ianto up and helping him wash his hands. Rhys had felt a little strange, but he had managed it fine, he thought.

Jack nodded, looking at Ianto, who looked back. "Do you need to go again?"

Ianto shook his head. Jack made for the door.

Rhys followed Jack and Jack put Ianto down and lifted one of his feet to put him into his shoe. Ianto looked thoroughly unimpressed with the whole process.

"Jack, really not doing that right."

Rhys grabbed Ianto around the waist and tipped him onto his back again. Ianto squealed in delight. Rhys looked up at Jack and took the boots out of his hands.

"Honestly, if you're going to do it, do it properly."

Jack grinned, Ianto giggled, Rhys laced up boots and Gwen in the background looked amused and scared all in the same expression. Jack, who was facing her, watched the expressions move over her face.

Elation had gained a hefty amount of ground.


	7. Chapter 7

**Although I am sort of erasing out most of the references to my other story 'Innocence' to make this story a little more independant there are still some mentions of it. Plus for those that don't know Brad the cat is a rescue cat from Torchwood 1.**

Owen didn't look up as he heard the door. He expected Toshiko, who had been dropped off to get changed, and then she was coming back the hub to finish off her work on the machine that had altered Ianto.

"That's only an hour. Are you being lazy or can you not bear to be away from me?" Owen asked without looking round.

"Lazy, most definitely," Jack said. Owen spun round and glared at him.

"I thought you were…"

Owen paused and looked down at Ianto. He had obviously reacquired Barney from the dashboard of the SUV, where he had been sitting for his day out. Ianto now had an arm curled around the teddy's torso. He pulled on Jack's hand and Jack let him go. Ianto ran off pausing as the pterodactyl flew threw the air. He ran after her a little, his eyes trained upwards.

"Watch where you are going!" Jack warned him as he ran around. Ianto paused and instead stood still and stared up.

"What?" Jack asked Owen.

Owen closed his eyes, his face and waved a hand to dismiss what he had said. "Doesn't matter? Are you…?"

"I'm just going to pick up the information to calibrate the machine. I need to pack a bag for Ianto, can you download everything into one of the laptops while I pack for him. I'll use his flat, he might settle in the home fittings and nothings going to jump out an attack him there."

"Okay. She needs feeding," Owen said as the dinosaur flew over them again. "I'll do her in a minute and the rest of the rounds."

"Thanks, I know I normally do the afternoon, or night, stuff but…"

"It's fine," Owen said. He glanced at Ianto, who was watching the pterodactyl and seemed to be trying to protect Barney. "How did Rhys get on with him?"

"Pretty good actually."

"On the same mental level no doubt," Owen sniped. Jack glared.

"Oi, leave him alone. He'd make a good dad."

"Are you an expert after one day? Or are you just getting fond of Gwen's husband?"

Jack grinned broadly and Owen rolled his eyes.

"Is there anyone you don't want to shag?"

"You've got to have a hobby."

Owen raised his eyebrows, and Jack looked to his left suddenly very conscious that Ianto had stopped watching the pterodactyl's flight and was staring at them. He was lingering in the door of Jack's office, somewhere that he seemed to view with a level of sanctuary. Considering sometimes what had gone on in there, Jack was amazed by that. It worried him a little. Owen seemed to feel something similar as he watched Ianto for a few seconds before turning to Jack.

"I'll get the laptop ready. You sort the zapped employee."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Jack had packed everything he thought Ianto would need, and a few other things. Jack guessed he would probably need to bath him, and Ianto needed pyjamas, plus a change of clothes for the morning. And there was the plastic utensils that the girls had bought, and he put a few other things from the monstrous bags of shopping into the pile of what he needed. As he did so, he realised that a good portion of it had all been used. Most of it in fact.

If Gwen had dictated the shopping then she had been almost perfect, with a little overspill. And the weird thing was, every thing that she had picked, clothing wise, fitted almost perfectly. Nothing could be entirely fitted but Ianto was comfortable, and hadn't complained. Jack stuffed the trainers that they had bought on top and zipped the bag closed. The convenient carry bag that they had also bought.

Toshiko had chosen it apparently, with an eye to using it to carry tech stuff, debris, dangerous items and it could handle liquids. Into the bargain, it also looked highly innocuous.

Ianto sat in the chair, at the desk, watching him carefully while scrawling on a piece of paper. Barney had flopped on the desk next to him, lying flat on his back as usual. Jack stood up and tested the weight of the bag. Ianto watched him, still scrawling.

"What are you doodling there?" Jack asked, he peered over at the scrawling and then came round the desk. It was a slight stretch and Jack could have been reading too much into it but there was a clear enough 'J' on the sheet of paper for Jack to be able to make out his name.

"What's that you've written?" Jack moved behind him, Ianto looked up and reached for Barney, shyly burying his face into his fur.

"I like Jack," Ianto said. Jack smiled at him and ran his fingers through Ianto's hair.

"I like you, too."

He picked Ianto up out of the chair and settled him on his hip. It helped him avoid eye contact in what was something of an uncomfortable moment. Ianto had regulated that comment, hiding behind the teddy bear and his dark eyes spoke of something more than childlike adoration. Jack didn't want to comment further. He didn't want to say anything else, and he didn't want Ianto blurting out something that might end up regretted later.

"Aaawww, it's a Kodak moment," Owen said having appeared unnoticed in the office doorway, laptop under his arm. Ianto snuggled against Jack, hiding again. Jack felt his cheeks flush slightly and Owen smirked, holding out the laptop. Jack picked up the bag and slung it over the shoulder, being careful not to catch Ianto, or dislodge him in any way. Reaching out Jack took the laptop from him.

"So are you going to tell us about these calculations then?" Owen asked. Jack shook his head.

"If I try to explain them I think my brain would probably explode."

Owen smirked, "and we can't have you with a mushy brain now can we."

Ianto giggled into Jack's shoulder.

"Don't you encourage him," Jack warned Ianto, kissing him on the top of his head. Then he looked at Owen. "I'll bring them back and try and talk you through them once I've worked it out."

Owen shrugged. "I'll wait for Tosh to get back and we'll double check that we are charging up the machine right. We don't want to over zap him."

"Good, we have some test subjects don't we."

"Rats of various ages and a rabbit. We could use Janet or the Hoix but we don't know how old they are so…"

"I'd be loathe to use them anyway, it seems a bit unethical."

"But aging rats is fine?"

"Yes," Jack said. "If we need to test it on something else then we will do. This is risky."

Owen looked at Ianto. "Yes."

"Right, I'm taking him home, I should be able to work out the calculation overnight and I'll be in tomorrow depending on when Ianto wakes up. I'll leave him to sleep if he sleeps in a little."

"Fine, no worries." Owen looked at Ianto and patted his head. "Drive him crazy for me."

Ianto grinned at him.

"And don't you encourage him!" Jack said to Owen. "You ignore Evil Lord Owen."

Ianto flung out the hand holding Barney and batted Owen on the shoulder. Owen grinned, quite pleased with himself.

"Have fun," he said to Jack. Jack stuck his tongue out at him, hitched Ianto higher on his hip and made a quick exit.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Toshiko had found a cushion from somewhere to use in the SUV. Jack got Ianto in the back and settled him on the cushion, putting the seatbelt around him carefully. Ianto kept looking around excitedly. Jack knew he liked the SUV anyway, as a child he was positively enraptured with it.

Jack made sure the seatbelt was secure around him and then stepped back and shut the door carefully before going round the back and getting in the driver's side. He had put Ianto diagonal to him so he could keep an eye on him over his shoulder. He turned around and smiled at him, Ianto thrust Barney at him.

Jack took him and placed Barney back on the dashboard where he had sat throughout the drive today. He wedged the toy against the windshield so he couldn't do his drunken flop and put him so Ianto could still see him. Ianto grinned in delight.

"You all right there?"

"Yep," Ianto said. Jack gunned the engine and set off. As he drove he kept an eye on Ianto behind him. Ianto in turn kept glancing at Jack but most of his attention was fixed on the city around them as they passed through the streets. Ianto gazed at everything as if he had never seen any of it before in his life.

Or he was simply taking everything in from the new perspective. Everything was so much bigger. Jack drove to the quiet little street where Ianto's flat was and pulled into the car park at the back of the building, taking Ianto's parking space. The SUV did look pretty conspicuous but most of the residents were used to Jack turning up. He glanced behind him as he parked. He hoped he wouldn't run into any of them. Him turning up with a child in tow was going to be hard to explain.

Still, making up tall stories was one of Jack's specialities, although far too many of them had a strong ring of truth. He would just have to improvise if it came to it.

"Come on then," Jack said. He got out and went around the other side to release Ianto.

"Don't forget Barney!" Ianto said as Jack put him down.

"I won't. Let me get the bag first."

He ended up employing Rhys's method of keeping Ianto contained by holding onto the hood of his jacket while he extracted the bag and laptop from the back and then went to get Barney. He gave him to Ianto and guided Ianto in still keeping hold of his hood. Ianto's flat was on the first floor so it took them a while to negotiate the stairs, but again Jack kept him balanced by the grip he had on him.

As they reached the top Ianto trotted happily down the corridor and paused outside his door. He frowned in confusion as he looked at it, like he remembered where he was but couldn't quite work it out in his now infant mind. Jack decided that breezing over the fact was probably the best thing, so he just behaved as if everything was perfectly normal.

He fiddled with the keys and unlocked the door, guiding Ianto in. He was about to close it, breathing a sigh of relief that he hadn't encountered anyone when there was the sound of a door opening.

"Mr Harkness!"

Jack winced inwardly at Mrs Reynolds' voice. Ianto's elderly, and rather formidable, next door neighbour. Ianto paused in the hallway of the flat, looking around.

"Hi, Mrs Reynolds," Jack said plastering a bright grin onto his face. He turned to her. She looked him up and down and then peered around the door at Ianto.

"I saw you in the car park, Ianto not with you?"

If you saw me in the car park, Jack thought, then you will assume he's not with me because you didn't see him.

"No," he said politely as the voiceover went on in his mind – strangely enough in Ianto's flat sardonic voice. "He's away for a couple of days, but he said I could use the flat for convenience sake. I'm babysitting."

He watched Mrs Reynolds assess Ianto. Ianto paid no attention; he was distracted by Brad, the cat, who sauntered out of the kitchen to see what was going on. Ianto cooed in delight and tucking Barney tighter under his arm went to investigate. As he approached Brad hissed at him, arching his back. Ianto visibly paused.

"I really don't think you want him near that cat," Mrs Reynolds said. "I fed him anyway, that's what I came to tell you. I didn't see Ianto this morning, I presume he wasn't home last night." There was a slight accusing tone in her voice. She knew Jack was Ianto's boss and didn't approve of the hours that Ianto seemed to keep, or the company.

Jack kept his eyes fixed on Ianto and Brad. Despite the risk of Brad attacking him, he was rather curious to see what he would make of little Ianto.

"No, no, like I said, Ianto's away, I'm just babysitting my… nephew…" It was the first thing that came into Jack's head. It'll do, Jack thought to himself.

Mrs Reynolds looked ready to say something else but she paused as Brad assessed Ianto with his cool green eyes, sniffed the air and carefully padded forward. He brushed against Ianto's legs, arching his back and twitching his tail in delight. As he went past Ianto he turned elegantly on his paws and brushed against him again, tail still up and his back curved.

"Goodness," Mrs Reynolds said her train of thought forgotten. Jack winced as Ianto reached down to touch Brad's back. Brad however just purred and slowly flopped down, his back legs dropped first and his spine and shoulders following in a perfect ripple.

Ianto sat down next to him and petted his head. Brad stretched up to sniff him, clearly aware that Ianto was Ianto.

"I've never seen him react to anyone like that, except Ianto."

"Maybe it's just us grown-ups he doesn't like," Jack said, now very desperate to get rid of her. He turned around to concentrate on her and flashed his most charming smile. She didn't look very impressed.

"Ianto should be back within the next day or so."

"It's just he owes me for the cat food, with my pension I can't afford to keep…"

"Oh… right… yes…" Jack rummaged around in the inside pocket of his coat. "He did mention that to me. He told me to give you this."

Jack yanked out his wallet and pulled out two twenty pound notes. It was probably way more than she needed but he wanted shot of her. His gaze flickered back to Ianto. He was running his hand down Brad's back and Brad seemed fine with it. But Jack didn't trust Brad one inch. He was a devious little bastard.

"Oh, it's not as much as that!" she sounded shocked, but pleased.

"No, well it means that if it happens again then you don't need to worry, and Ianto does say that it's a really big help to him." Just go away you silly bitch, Jack's inner voice said, this time in his own American accent. She looked down at the money Jack put in her hand and then up at him. Jack smiled again, he glanced over, very significantly at Ianto, still touching Brad.

"I'd better go and sort him out, he's had a long afternoon." He backed up, almost hiding behind the door. But he kept smiling, Ianto liked to stay on good terms with his neighbours, particularly the one that came in and fed his cat. She looked up at him and nodded curtly.

"I'll tell Ianto, he'll probably come and see you when he gets back. Good afternoon Mrs Reynolds."

Jack didn't exactly shut the door in her face. She was backing off and walking away, the forty pounds clutched tightly in her hand. Jack could afford it, if it meant he kept things smooth for Ianto and kept the old lady out of his hair. He turned around and leant against the door breathing a sigh of relief. It hitched and he ran forward.

"Oh, no, no, no,"

Jack said as he grabbed Ianto around the waist, picked him up and pulled him away from Brad, just seconds before Ianto put his arms around Brad's torso to pull him onto his lap and hug him. Jack stood Ianto on his feet and crouching down turned Ianto to face him. Ianto looked confused and a little put out.

"You can't pick Brad up like to do Barney."

Ianto scowled. "Why not?"

"Because Brad…" Jack tailed of and sighed. He looked at Barney lying on the floor, discarded because of the cat. "Barney, is designed to be picked up and cuddled, Brad is… an animal. It's not what he's designed to do. He's a living, breathing thing…. He might not like it."

Jack glanced down at Brad, he was laid back, watching Jack and Ianto, his head slightly raised and his ears tilted back. He eyed both Jack and Ianto, an 'I dare you' look in his green eyes. Jack took a breath and looked back at Ianto.

"Just promise me, you won't try and pick up Brad. He won't like it, being a cat, cuddle Barney instead." Jack picked up Barney and handed him to Ianto, who took him reluctantly. He glanced at Brad, who had started to wash his paw, tugging on his claws as he did so.

"He might scratch you," Jack added. "He won't mean to, not really, but he might if you hurt him. You don't want to hurt him, do you?"

Very solemnly Ianto shook his head; Jack smiled and relaxed a little.

"Right, let's get you bathed and then we'll find something to eat."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Jack ran the bath, putting in a generous amount of the baby bath that Gwen and Toshiko had bought. He made sure the water wasn't too hot and then started to pull Ianto out of his clothes. Ianto let him, his eyes strayed to Brad, since the troublemaking cat was now following them around the flat.

Jack had put all the clothes in the bedroom, the plastic utensils in the kitchen and he now had the array of baby toiletries in the bathroom. He put Ianto in the bath and shrugged his braces off his shoulders and pulled off his shirt, rather convinced that he was about to get wet. Ianto pawed the bubbles a little and then looked at them carefully.

"Urgh!" he announced as he licked his hand. He screwed up his face and stuck his tongue out of his mouth.

"Well, that will teach you," Jack said. He grabbed Ianto tooth mug and ran some water into it. As Ianto spat Jack poured a small amount of mouthwash into the water and gave it to Ianto. He cupped the back of his head and held the glass to his mouth.

"Drink that."

Ianto drank a little and spat a little more. Jack made him drink a little more and screwed up his face and slapped his tongue against the roof of his mouth. He looked up at Jack with sorrowful eyes.

"Don't put things in your mouth then," Jack chided. He gave Ianto another little drink and his face smoothed out slightly. Blinking back the tears that had run into his eyes he looked up at Jack. Jack found the soft flannel, dampened it and put some of the baby wash, with calming lavender, onto it. Which Jack thought, when he finally got a shower, he'd use himself.

He gave Ianto a thorough washing. Ianto didn't sit still but since he was contained in a bath Jack had an easier time of it than yesterday when he tried to give him a quick wash. His clothes needed washing as well. Ianto had once shown him how to work the washing machine, but he wasn't quite sure he was up to it. Ianto had a second outfit anyway but Jack was starting to wonder if he might need to do some washing. They were getting somewhere with the calibrations, but not quickly. There were no risks which could be taken here.

It could easily be argued they took risks all the time, and if this had happened before Jack had taken charge of Torchwood, no one would have had any scruples about running experiments. However, Jack had no intention of allowing his Torchwood to go down that road. After some of the things that had happened to Ianto Jack owed him that much, and all the embarrassing moments, this time, had mostly been kept between the two of them.

Rhys, of course, had been swept up into a few of them. But Jack guessed that Ianto would find that less embarrassing than if it was Gwen or Toshiko. Owen perhaps he could cope with, if nothing else he was male, and in a way Owen would find it as embarrassing as Ianto did.

No, Jack thought, if he had to stay like this a little longer, then he had to. Jack could hope that he could work it out by tomorrow but he wasn't about to be cavalier about it.

He grabbed the shampoo and put it on the side and scooping up some water he wetted down Ianto's hair. Ianto grizzled a little as water dripped down his face. Jack smoothed his hair back and tilted his head back to drizzle a little shampoo on Ianto's hair.

Ianto splashed about in the water as Jack washed his hair. To remove the suds he dumped Ianto backwards in the water, carefully holding him and thinking that he really should have taken his tee-shirt off as well. However, he knew he had a clean set of clothes here. Ianto always provided for him, without comment, without any real need for anything back. It made Jack feel a little guilty at times, but he knew why Ianto did it.

Now, however, Jack was doing the looking after. Jack didn't mind such a thing. Every time he looked at Ianto now he just saw how vulnerable he was. If Jack analysed it closely enough, he knew that internally Ianto hid much of what he really felt. Now it seemed a little more obvious, and it made Jack wary of looking to hard.

Jack sat him up and ran his fingers through Ianto's hair, shaking off the excess water and making sure all the shampoo was cleared out and he cleaned all the excess suds off him. Ianto splashed the water happily as Jack ran some over Ianto's shoulders so shift the last of the body wash.

"Right, out you come," Jack said. As he lifted Ianto it occurred to him that he probably should have taken his tee shirt off as well. He was going to have to find a change of clothes but he didn't know where Ianto was up to with his laundry. He was going to have to look into it. Still for tonight he could use the tracksuit and tee-shirts that Ianto had bought for him, in the hope that somehow he'd relax a little, while he was here.

He did relax, but he'd either want to wear his own clothes, or be naked. He just didn't see the point of changing into something else in between those stages. It was nothing to do with some psychological defence. He just felt comfortable in his own clothes.

Still, his first priority was Ianto. He set him down on the bathmat and then reached for one of the large fluffy towels that hung on the rail. He opened it out and dropped it over Ianto's head. Ianto gave a yelp as it flopped down over him, covering his face. Jack lifted it to reveal Ianto's face and pushing it back he dried his hair a little first and then worked his way down. Ianto wriggled a little until Jack was forced to wrap the towel around him and pull Ianto onto his lap.

As Jack started to dry his feet off Ianto went into another round of giggling. He struggled against Jack but pinned on his lap and hampered by the towel there wasn't much he could do, especially since he was so tiny. At least when he had been grown-up he was in with a chance of fending Jack off. Now all he could do was squirm and giggle. Brad came to sit on the landing by the bathroom door. He sat down and glared at Jack before getting up again and sauntering off into Ianto's bedroom. Jack stopped tickling Ianto and let him settle on his lap. Ianto was gasping for breath. Jack cuddled him and kissed the top of his head. He now smelt very clean, but still babyish.

"You are so going to get me back for this when you get back to normal."

Ianto looked up at him as Jack tucked the towel around him. As he looked down just for one fraction of a second he thought he saw a glimmer of something. Not the bright innocence in Ianto's eyes but something deeper, darker, cradled down inside him. For a moment Jack was convinced he saw a flash of Ianto. Not just his grown-up self, but his darker side. Jack knew he had one, something ruthless about him. The flash was all he saw before it was cradled again within the innocent Ianto. The darkness sat curled up in the braver part of him. The one that survived, the one that controlled it, the one that was utterly Jack's.

"Still, until then." Jack grinned and flipped Ianto back dumping him on the bathmat and he went back to tickling his feet and his ribs. Ianto squealed and giggled. He kicked Jack several times as he tried to get his feet away but the power of them was almost ineffectual. After a couple of minutes Jack stopped. Ianto's chest heaved as he gasped for breath. He lay on his back on the bathmat his legs draped across Jack's. Jack smiled at him and reached down to pick him up, taking him around the waist. By sheer reflex Ianto gasped and giggled but Jack lifted him up and Ianto wrapped his arms around Jack's neck, pressing himself against him and clinging on. Jack hugged him back, feeling just how small he was and so utterly helpless.

"Come on, let's get you into your pyjamas."

Jack got him dressed easily. Ianto was too winded to put up much of a fight. He was wearing the 'sleepyosaurus' pyjamas again, in the blue that matched his eyes. Jack noticed that Gwen and Toshiko had bought an awful lot of blue clothes that matched, or contrasted with, his eyes. When had they been noticing Ianto's eyes, he wondered with a mild trace of jealousy.

He put Ianto down on the bed. Brad was curled up on the end, his head raised slightly as they came in and as Jack moved to the end of the bed Brad hissed at him.

"Go away, you don't scare me."

Ianto watched Brad with wide eyes, seeing his reaction to Jack. He reached for Barney, who had been put on the bed and Ianto pulled him onto his lap and watched Jack.

For the first time in what had to be a very long time, Jack suddenly developed an acute feeling of self-consciousness undressing and getting changed. In front of Ianto of all people, the person he was currently most familiar with. His eyes were fixed on Jack, watching him calmly, while he held onto Barney.

Jack looked away and opened the drawer that he knew housed the tracksuit bottoms and tee-shirt that Ianto had bought for him. Very swiftly he pulled off his wet tee-shirt, quickly dried the dampness off his skin with a hand towel and then pulled on the dark blue tee-shirt. Then he got his trousers off and swapped them for the tracksuit bottoms as quickly as he could.

He could have really done with having a shower, but he decided to wait until Ianto was firmly asleep before thinking about that. Jack didn't want to leave him to his own devices. He felt a little better when he was dressed again and he glanced at Ianto. He was still watching him, his face utterly calm, reassured by Jack's presence. The incident last night had frightened the life out of him, but somewhere deep down in his child's psyche he knew that Jack would be all right. Toshiko had given him the perfect translation of it, in a fairy story. Something his mind could deal with.

Jack owed her big time for that.

"Are you all right?" Jack asked him. Ianto nodded. He rested his chin on Barney's head squashing him. Jack gave a wicked grin. "Got your breath back?"

Ianto pulled his feet up and tucked them under his body as much as possible and put Barney on top. He gave Jack a highly suspicious look. Jack laughed.

"Okay, truce, I won't tickle you." Ianto's eyes narrowed slightly. "I promise."

Jack came around the bed and held out his arms. Ianto got up and clambered into them. Jack swung him up onto his hip.

"Hungry?"

Ianto nodded, "a bit."

"Well, while I look for something for us to eat, and attempt to put some washing in the machine you can watch some television, okay?"

Ianto nodded, put his head on Jack's shoulder murmuring contentedly as Jack carried him out of the room.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Ianto, being as organised as he was, had a shelf in the kitchen which Jack knew he needed to aim for. It was put up just to the left of the utility room door. On it were the recipe books that he had bought and had been given to him and that he used when he had the time. Jack had often come round to find something cooked for him and he often worried about Ianto making such an effort.

"It's relaxing," Ianto had said. That was one time that Jack had come round to find Ianto had bought rump steak to mince down into burgers. "I like it, there's just something so… messy about it."

Jack had raised his eyebrows, messy. That was the one thing he didn't expect Ianto to like.

"Lisa always seemed to use three utensils when one would do. She always loved cooking."

The books were Lisa's, the influence was hers.

So Jack had taken it calmly, it was just another to go along with the rest of Ianto's quirks. And another one of those was at the far end of the shelf. He had the guarantees and instructions – or destructions if you were Jack, Ianto had once said - to all his appliances. Jack flicked through them and found the one that had 'washing machine' written on the front in Ianto's scrawling but neat handwriting.

And with all the washing piled at his feet, not just from today but the basket's accumulation of a few days, Jack started to read. He understood the sorting process, on lazy weekend mornings he had seen Ianto tidy his way through it often enough. So everything had been put into relevant piles.

He read intently and then put the correct powder and conditioner in the drawers, he thought he had it the right way round, and set it. He shut the door and pressed the start button. The machine clicked, and then stopped. Jack almost had his wrist strap out thinking there was something wrong but then he heard the hiss and chug as water started to flow in. Then slowly the machine started to spin. Jack then looked at the hanging washing and he slowly started to take it down, putting it in the basket to be ironed. He hoped to God he really didn't have to bother with that. However, he spotted a pile that Ianto had done not long ago, so they had a few days grace.

Putting the ironing in the bedroom, actually being neat for a change, his senses alerted as he heard sounds from downstairs. Ianto slowly started to move up the stairs. Jack had put him in front of a three hour run of The Simpsons. Ianto liked it, and it seemed harmless enough to him. But he had obviously got bored.

Jack came out of the bedroom to find him just reaching the top of the stairs, taking it slow, with Barney under his arm.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked. He looked at the stairs and then at tiny little Ianto climbing them determinedly. The shot of fear was probably well justified but Ianto reached the top and walked to him to rest against his legs. Jack ruffled his drying but still slightly damp hair.

"You get bored?"

Ianto nodded.

"Okay, come on, we can sort out dinner. What would you like?"

There was a frown on Ianto's face as he looked up. Perhaps Jack shouldn't have asked that. Asking Ianto questions just seemed to drum up confusion as his mind tried to translate to three-year-old him.

"Shall we go and look?"

Ianto nodded. Jack reached down to pick him up. He wasn't about to let Ianto start negotiating the stairs. However, even Jack felt a little daunted taking Ianto down them. He propped him on his right hip, as he had done over the course of the last day and a half, and put his left hand on the wall to keep himself steady. He watched his feet carefully, keeping his weight balanced. Ianto didn't look set to make any sudden moves but you could never really tell.

Jack moved down the stairs and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ianto, don't go up or down the stairs without me."

In response Ianto blinked, looking confused. But he nodded. Along with the other things Jack had said, the strange requests which were taking too long to process. Jack gave him an order and Ianto would do as he was told. He was a good little boy. Despite some horrors and upsets he had been well behaved.

Jack carried him into the kitchen and set him down. He felt that twinge in his back again. When we get this sorted, he's giving me a bloody good massage, Jack thought. Ianto followed the sound of the washing machine coming through the utility room where Jack had left the door open. Ianto watched it for a moment and then reached up to the controls.

"Don't touch it!" Jack said, a little panicked. He had thought he'd got it right, he didn't need little Ianto making a mess of it. He grabbed Ianto around the waist and lifted him back shutting the door firmly. Ianto watched him, he didn't look upset, just curious.

"Right, now, food. What's good for this time of day?"

Jack started to rummage through the cupboards. Next to him Ianto opened the lower cupboards, peering into them, but as Jack shut one and moved onto the next Ianto followed him. Jack opened the cupboard where Ianto kept the tinned food. Below him Ianto opened the cupboard that held his pots and pans, nearly kneecapping Jack as he did so.

Ianto backed up to look in Jack's cupboard to see if it was more interesting and backed into the kitchen table banging his head on the lip.

"Ow!" Ianto said. He stepped forward, turned round and hit the table with Barney. Jack stopped rummaging, shut the lower cupboard and went to Ianto rubbing the back of his head. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," Ianto said sulkily. He batted at the table again.

"Stop doing that to Barney. Here, sit there." Jack hefted him onto the table and rummaged in the cupboard.

"Soup, what about soup."

Ianto snorted and wafted Barney in disgust.

"Well, we've beans here, or… corned beef could we do anything with corned beef…"

"No," Ianto said.

"Tuna?" Jack picked up a few tins of tuna, and found a jar of pesto sauce close by. He turned around and looked at Ianto's vegetable rack. A huge bag of potatoes sat on the lowest rack.

"Baked potatoes, with tuna and pesto."

"And cheese," Ianto added.

"Do we have cheese?" Jack asked. He went to Ianto's fridge and looked in the relevant space for cheese. The plastic box sat there with a generous chunk inside. "We have cheese." He pulled his head out of the fridge. "You want cheese?"

There was a heavy sound from upstairs and then the stairs creaked as Brad ran down them. He sauntered into the kitchen. He paused just past the doorway and sat down.

"And which do you want, cheese or tuna?" Jack asked the cat.

Brad yawned and lifted a paw to lick at it. Ianto watched him from up on the kitchen table with intense concentration. Brad turned to lick at his back.

"So, jacket potatoes, we'll do tuna and cheese."

"Yes!" Ianto said.

"Okay, I can do jacket potatoes. Do you want to stir the pesto into the tuna?"

As Jack washed and sorted potatoes he also put the tuna and pesto into a bowl and let Ianto stir it.

"Stop licking it!"

Jack took the spoon of him. "I don't want your horrid spit in my food!"

Ianto looked up and smiled. The potatoes were now baking in the oven so Jack sat down next to Ianto and he helped him stir the spoon. Ianto was concentrating but he also wanted to lick at it.

"Are you really that hungry?"

"It's nice!"

"I know it's nice but wait until the potatoes are done. Do you want to help me grate the cheese?"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

They sat next to each other at Ianto's kitchen table. It made things easier for Jack. He had cut up the potato for Ianto and doused it with tuna in pesto. Then he had added cheese and grilled it, making the cheese melt and the tuna sizzle.

Ianto seemed to like it. He smiled up at Jack as he ate his potato and tuna. Jack sliced up the bits of skin he had missed and Ianto ate everything. For precautions sake Jack tucked a napkin into Ianto's top, to cover him up and preserve the pyjamas he was wearing.

It was so like Ianto that it was painful for Jack to even look at. When he really looked, just doing nothing but thinking about it rather than dealing with him, that was when he worried. Could they get the machine to reverse him? What the devil would they do if it didn't work? Or even more horrifically, if it went wrong.

Jack could calibrate the timer on the device but they still had to get it to power up and function. They would test it first, no doubt about that and Toshiko was good enough to make the thing work. And it was foolish, he thought, to theoretically build a bridge he may never have to cross. But he couldn't help but do it.

There was the possibility that this was unfixable. Jack remembered when they had been dealing with his amnesia he had wondered if it was better that he didn't get his memory back. On occasion he had wanted it back, desperately, but life had been very simple without all the thoughts and feelings knocking around his head. Instead there had just been the here and now of every situation.

He wondered if Ianto deep down inside there wanted to be turned back. Or was he really not thinking about it, happy enough with the situation. He had Jack, Ianto clearly felt secure with that. He'd had so many traumas in his life, and in such a shorter time compared to Jack. At least he had been given the time to come to terms with so much. Jack didn't think Ianto ever would. Owen was right, Ianto was screwed up beyond repair. Was it worthwhile just letting him try it again? But how could he do that around Torchwood and him.

"Eat your own!" Jack said to him as Ianto reached over to steal a clump of melted cheese off his plate. Ianto giggled at him and ate it.

"Great, I get your spit in my food and then you nick all the best bits," Jack said. He reached out and squeezed Ianto's ribs, just where he was ticklish, making him yelp. Jack laughed.

But still the debate raged on in his mind. And one part of it he couldn't ignore. It was probably morally wrong to keep him as a child, if it was by Jack's choice. If they couldn't get the machine to work then obviously Ianto was stuck. But there was no way Jack could consciously make a decision to keep Ianto as a child. And a child with adult memories at that. He was still in there, probably just as muddled and screwed-up but in there all the same.

And it didn't matter what problems Ianto had, Jack loved him no matter what. Further to that, over the course of the last two days, it had become quiet clear that that in itself was enough for Ianto.

"You finished?" Jack asked as Ianto scooped up a final bit of potato, then he nodded.

"Right. Then we'll clear up, unload the washing and you can help me hang it up."

Ianto grizzled as Jack pulled his chair back and lifted him off the seat. "Don't want to."

"People who steal the best bits from other people's plates have to help hang the washing up. After we've done that you can have some ice cream if you want."

Ianto thought about that. "Okay."

"Right then, come on, let's put you to work."


	8. Chapter 8

It was about nine thirty by the time Ianto's head started to droop. They were sat in front of the television watching some inane comedy game show. Jack found it hard to try and find things that were innocuous for Ianto to watch.

Yes, he was an adult in there. But his processes were childlike and Jack didn't want him getting over confused. Still The Simpsons had helped, then a few soap operas and a game show. Television didn't really interest Jack much. He thought about getting the laptop out to work on the calibration but he thought that Ianto would probably just be nosy and distract him. So instead he sat with Ianto curled up against him. Ianto snuggled against Jack as they watched television, and Ianto put Barney in Jack's lap.

They occupied the sofa and Brad took the armchair, watching them both carefully with his green eyes. He had been fine throughout the evening, just following and watching. Jack had added some tuna to his bowl, and a bit of grated cheese. He had turned his nose up at it initially, seeing that Jack had given it to him. But in the end temptation had got the better of him. While Jack had hung the washing on the higher rails of the dryer and Ianto had laboriously hung socks and underwear on the lower ones, Brad had stuffed his furry face.

When Ianto started to slump against him, Jack moved.

"Come on you, time for bed."

"No," Ianto whined, clinging to him.

"Yes, I'll stay with you for a bit but you are falling asleep, so you go to bed," Jack said sternly, in the tone he used when he wanted to get Ianto to behave himself, even when he was an adult. Because he was already in his pyjamas it was easy for Jack. He just took him upstairs to the main bedroom and pulled down the covers putting Ianto in, tucking him and Barney in. Ianto submitted to it, and Jack sat on the bed next to him, to wait for him to sleep.

"Story," Ianto said.

"What story?"

"I want a story," Ianto said. "Like Tosh."

Jack gaped for a moment and then pulled himself together. "You want me to tell you a fairy story."

Ianto nodded. There was a determined look in his eyes. If he was going to do the thing that scared him the most, sleeping, he wanted reassurance beforehand. Toshiko had given it to him last night, now Jack was all on his own. Mentally he desperately ran through to try and find something he could tell him. He didn't know any sort of traditional fairy story. He couldn't really remember any tales he had been told as a child. For a moment he was lost, he floundered and then one thing came to mind. A memory that was dark, a fearful thing that was haunting him. Maybe he could fight it in a different way than he had been trying to recently.

"Okay, you want to hear a story?"

Ianto nodded. Jack moved down on the bed, settling himself a little and tucking Ianto close to him. Barney the bear lay close to Ianto and Jack reached out to put a hand on the soft plush fur and he found it as comforting at Ianto did. Barney was a thing, but it was also something real that didn't judge or hate or hurt, he was just there to comfort. The bed shifted again as Brad launched himself up. He glared at them, turned in a circle and settled himself at the end of the bed, as he always did when Ianto slept. Keeping as strong a vigil as Jack always did.

"Okay," Jack said. "Once upon a time there was a magical man. And this magical man called himself The Doctor. He travelled around his time machine, disguised as a blue wooden box. Now, the Handsome Prince Jack, who lived in Cardiff, was waiting to see the magical man."

Ianto's whimper was almost a snarl.

"Bear with me," Jack said. "And he waited and waited, for over a hundred years. So when the magical Doctor came, Jack ran away. The princesses Toshiko and Gwen were upset, as was Little Prince Ianto and even Lord Owen missed his step brother. But Prince Jack had to go. There was something he had to do. He saw the magical box and ran towards it as the Doctor tried to run away from him.

"But Prince Jack was a brave strong prince. He flung himself at the box and clung on tight as it disappeared. The wind was strong, trying to pull him away and it hurt him all the way down to his bones."

Ianto whimpered again. Jack cuddled him and kissed Ianto on the top of his head.

"However much it hurt, there was nothing that could stop Prince Jack, so he clung on and waited until they landed and then…."

Jack started to tell the story that he had sworn to himself that he would never, ever tell. He told it without edit, but there were euphemisms. The horrors were taken away, changed into other things, magic, or fairy dust or the many other things that fairy tales could do to make the story less horrific.

And he talked, and talked. He told Ianto everything, except the part of the year where Jack had been away was missing. That was a whole other story. He left that out. Ianto didn't want to hear about himself. Or maybe he did, but not as a child. No, Jack told the story of what happened on The Valiant. There was no horror, none of the awful things but Jack talked about it. It was only when he reached the part about Martha's return that he realised his audience was fast asleep.

Well, one of them was anyway. Brad still looked at him with cool green eyes. He was still curled up on the end of the bed, his eyes fixed on Jack.

Jack slowly moved Ianto. He didn't stir as Jack tucked him in. He was fast asleep with one hand curled tightly around Barney. Jack slid out and left him, he went downstairs and picked up the laptop. As he sat on the sofa he paused. He didn't want to be that far away. It made something in him ache to be away from Ianto, when he slept, when he was vulnerable. Jack looked around, he picked up the laptop and the portable CD player, winding the lead around his arm and he picked three CD's from the rack. He went upstairs and put his head in the main room. Ianto still slept, his snuffing breaths one sound, Brad's contented purrs the other.

He backed off and moved to the opposite room. He turned on the lamp and it gave out a low light. Jack located the plug near the bed to plug in the laptop and he turned it on. Then he went to the dresser on the far side. He put the CD player down and plugged it in the plug under the window. He took one CD and put it in. He set it playing, lowering the volume until Glen Miller was a low soothing tone.

Ianto had bought the CD for him. Jack had never used it. One of the other two he had brought with him had never been taken out of the plastic wrapping. Jack found it soothing, but sometimes he avoided it. Particularly with Ianto. He didn't, in a way, want to give that part of himself to Ianto. It was his, and The Doctor's and Rose's. But he had tonight given another part of himself away, knowing that Ianto couldn't judge him, or argue with him, but Jack admitted to himself that Ianto deserved to know.

Above everyone else.

Ianto was the one that deserved to know about The Doctor and why Jack had run to him, forgetting everyone else. Would he remember and comprehend it when he changed back? Jack wondered if he wanted that, because Ianto would be able to comprehend the euphemism and he would see the pain Jack had suffered. Jack did want him to know, to understand, and in the same breath he didn't. He couldn't foist his own pain on to someone who felt so much of his own. That was unfair, which was why, so often, Jack never talked.

He didn't want to be a burden, when he felt that that was all he was.

But still, by the dim light of Ianto's spare bedroom and to the soothing sound of Glen Miller, Jack started to work. If he couldn't fix anything else about Ianto, he could fix this. So he would.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Jack worked into the night. He didn't need to sleep. Naturally his body was not predisposed to it, but after his death and resurrection it was almost unnecessary. He could relax, dropping into a trance-like state but most of the time he didn't like to. The things in his mind snuck up on him. He felt safe when he was with Ianto, as Ianto felt safe with him. Without even realising it, both of them had become attached, above and beyond their initial agendas. And now they were impossible to separate. Even if they tried other relationships they would always come back to each other.

So that was why Jack carefully used the laptop. He took the data and configured it, reconfigured it, alternated it, and worked with it every way possible.

Earlier he had managed to grab a quick shower, using all the baby stuff that he had used on Ianto. All of it had smelt very nice. He didn't really understand the whole putting different scents on, that most humans did. And they never really bothered to correspond it. Soap, deodorant, body lotion, perfume, one on top of the other, all different smells, layering up like a kind of pollution.

Jack was glad he had only one scent, his own pheromones. He knew they were potent, on this planet at least, but they were all his. But the scent of the baby products did nothing to mask it. They were just easy to fade out.

He was typing away when he heard a small cry. Looking round he glanced at his watch to see it was two thirty. There was the sound of the bed creaking as Ianto moved.

Jack got up off the bed and went to the door as Ianto ran out of the doorway of the main bedroom, obviously looking for him. He was clutching onto Barney his eyes wide, looking around, and a tear slowly rolled down his left cheek. He looked at Jack with hurt eyes. Jack went to him, picking him up without hesitation.

Ianto wrapped his arm around him tightly and held on. He clung to Jack tightly and he began to cry.

"Hey, come on," Jack rocked him gently, running a hand up and down his back. Ianto clung onto him and sobbed. Jack paced the landing with him and from the spare room, Glen Miller soothingly carried on playing.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Jack asked gently.

"Uh-huh," Ianto confirmed between sobs. He pressed his face into Jack's shoulder, his hands tightly laced together at the back of Jack's neck so he couldn't put him down. Not that Jack had any intention of doing so. Instead he carried on pacing the landing, rubbing a hand up and down Ianto's back, soothing him while he cried.

For a brief second he glanced at the bathroom, wondering if it was safe to give him a sedative. He could phone Owen and check, or work out if there was anything he could do. But Jack got the feeling that Owen would go berserk if he suggested doping up Ianto. And he didn't really feel that doing that to him now was entirely ethical.

So instead he paced a little more and waited until Ianto's crying had calmed down to the occasional sniffle.

"Okay now," Jack said in a low tone. "It's all right, nothing's going to hurt you. It was just a bad dream."

"Scared," Ianto announced. Jack hugged him a little tighter and kissed Ianto's hair.

"What have you got to be scared of?" Jack asked gently. There was a little pause and Ianto shifted against him.

"The robot lady."

Jack froze. For one split second, everything stopped, and a cold shiver of dread ran down his spine. It was only momentary, he snapped himself out of it as he felt Ianto tense. Jack turned to carry on pacing, using the length of the bedrooms as he went back and forth with Ianto.

"What robot lady?"

Jack cringed as he asked that. He shouldn't be asking it. Not to a three year old Ianto. He had no right to start bringing the subject up in the state he was in. But it was probably the one and only time that he could bring it up. He'd get an answer.

"The silver robot lady. She's all shiny," Ianto said. He huddled tighter to Jack. Jack turned as he paced into Ianto's bedroom. Brad was still on the bed, watching the scene with his green eyes, staring at Jack accusingly as he pawed the rumpled duvet.

"The robot lady isn't here. Where do you see her?"

"In the tunnels, its dark, she chases me," Ianto sniffled.

Jack tensed. It had been a very tentative agreement they had. Ianto never offered any information on what he nightmares were all about. Jack wouldn't ever ask. He could guess. It would be bound to have something to do with Canary Wharf, something that Ianto had not got over. Which was probably not helped by his attempt to keep Lisa alive. Jack had some idea of what she had done to Ianto. She had manipulated him perfectly so he would acquiesce to her without question while he believed her to be what he so desperately wanted her to be.

However, he had never really thought she was the source of the nightmares. Or at least he never thought she was an actual source of the terror. The problem was, if that was the case, how far back did the fear go? Before she went berserk and tried to kill them all, or had something in Ianto feared her before then. With him knowing she was dangerous, unstoppable, but still with Ianto desperately trying to kid himself that he could cure her.

And now her loss, and what Jack had done to her, along with Ianto's own fears meant that he could never sleep peacefully unless Jack was there to comfort him, or the drugs kept his subconscious mind completely subdued.

"It's all right," Jack said, almost literally biting his tongue to prevent him asking any more questions. If Ianto ever got to a point where he could really talk about it then he would, but until that day Jack knew he shouldn't ask. Instead he paced back out to the landing. Ianto sniffed again, tightening his grip on Jack.

"Do you want to come and sit with me?" Jack asked him. Ianto gave a little whimper and nodded. Jack felt the movement of his head against his shoulder. "Okay." Jack added.

He carried Ianto into the spare room and went around to the far side of the bed and flipped up the duvet. He pulled back one of the pillows he had been using to prop himself up on and he sat down on the side of the bed to then prise Ianto off him.

"Come on, let go Ianto, I'm not going to disappear."

Reluctantly Ianto let go. Jack very gently put him into the bed, tucking the duvet around him. One of Ianto's hands reached out, grasping at him. Jack gently took it in his own.

"All right now." Jack's other hand moved to gently run through Ianto's hair. He gazed up at Jack, his wide eyes the most dominant feature in his face, filled with an adult pain that his mind, at the moment, wasn't entirely capable of comprehending. He didn't understand the nightmare, there was just fear and darkness, and the sense of it closing in around him.

As an adult Ianto knew he couldn't truly escape the nightmare, all he could do to combat it was subdue it, either with Jack, or drugs. The only option they had at the moment was Jack. He couldn't honestly hope to use any sedatives on Ianto now.

"Where's Barney, do you want Barney?" Jack asked. Ianto nodded but he frowned with fear as Jack got up off the bed.

"I'll just be a minute."

He felt Ianto's eyes fixed on him as he went to the door and out onto the landing. Barney lay in the doorway of Ianto's bedroom where Ianto had discarded him the moment Jack had offered himself. Brad was idly batting at him with one paw and as Barney rolled onto his back Brad pounced, clawing at him and biting Barney's ear.

"Oi, off!" Jack snapped in irritation. He was treated to a swipe from one of Brad's forepaws, but Jack evaded the claws and pulled Barney out of his grip. Jack plumped his stuffing a little so Barney looked a little less sorry for himself, having been abandoned by Ianto, in favour of Jack; and then treated to a cat attack. Barney's stitched in eyes looked at Jack slightly sorrowfully as Jack carried him back to Ianto.

Ianto lay on his side, his eyes fixed on the door, relief flooding his face as Jack reappeared. Jack clambered onto the bed and handed Barney to Ianto. He clutched him tightly pulling him to his chest. Jack watched Ianto's fingers working against Barney's fur. He sat on the bed next to Ianto, putting the laptop aside, moving it to the end of the bed. Ianto watched every move he made carefully, frightened that Jack was going to disappear. Jack smiled down at him and smoothed down Ianto's ruffled hair. Ianto blinked and shuffled closer to Jack.

"Nothing's going to hurt you," Jack said gently. Ianto didn't look entirely convinced. "Do you want me to tell you any more of the story?"

He wasn't quite sure where he was up to, or at least at what point Ianto had fallen asleep. Ianto shook his head and just carried on looking at Jack. Jack tried not to feel offended by that, obviously his story telling abilities were not to Tosh's standard.

He was distracted as Brad sauntered into the room and hefted himself onto the bed, nearly landing on the laptop.

"Oi," Jack shot to the end of the bed and pulled the laptop clear before he could walk all over the keyboard. Jack moved it to the bedside table instead. "I'm not having you ruining all my hard work." Jack informed Brad, who naturally ignored him and moved to the far corner of the bed to settle down and stare at Jack and Ianto in turn.

Ianto watched all the proceedings, his expression calming a little. Jack settled back again after he checked that he had saved all the calibrations. He would double check them when Ianto finally went back to sleep. He was still looking a little tired but was trying to refuse to sleep, for fear of the nightmare.

Jack put a hand back on Ianto's head and he let Ianto cuddle against his leg.

"It's all right; nothing's going to hurt you."

Ianto gave a contended murmur and snuggled down deeper into the covers and Jack continued to reassure him until he finally drifted back off to sleep.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Ianto slept through the rest of night, waking up at seven forty-five. He had looked up to find Jack still there and having checked his calibrations several times he had turned off the computer and was instead watching Ianto sleep.

Once they were up Jack had put Ianto in front of the television, watching some morning chat show while he washed and got dressed. Ianto was still in his pyjamas, but Jack would deal with him after breakfast. And he would phone Owen at some point to find out how their work on the machine had gone. Jack hoped that Owen had sent Toshiko home at some point to get some rest.

When he got dressed he went to find Ianto in the living room. He was, Jack noticed, far less clingy in the light of day, reassured by Jack's constant presence overnight. However Jack still felt a little edgy knowing the specific content of part of Ianto's nightmares. And another thing that bothered him, the way that Ianto had referred to Lisa.

Was that just his infant mind working out a level of relationship that he might not entirely comprehend or had Ianto completely compartmentalised her? There was Lisa, his girlfriend, and then Lisa, the robot lady as Ianto had put it. Was he now viewing her as two separate people, or personalities?

Jack wasn't quite sure what to make of that. He went into the lounge and stopped, watching Ianto.

Ianto was quite happy, sat in front of the television on one of the cushions off the sofa. He was watching some exercise routine that several people were going through in the show and at the same time was carefully moving Barney to mirror the positions, looking very serious as he put the teddy bear through the aerobics routine.

Jack smirked; it was so undeniably cute, little Ianto, in cute pyjamas, playing with a teddy bear. His head moved from the screen to Barney, carefully concentrating. Jack didn't think it was likely to catch on, teddy bear aerobics. As he thought that, he had a rather bizarre vision of Barney releasing a fitness video. And he promptly started to giggle.

It soon turned into uncontrollable laughter as the thought refused to leave him. So much so that he was forced to sit down on the sofa before he fell over.

At the sound Ianto turned his head, smiling vaguely in Jack's direction but not understanding what Jack was laughing at. So he went back to concentrating on Barney, which did nothing to control Jack's hysterics.

After a few minutes Jack's laughter subsided. Ianto kept glancing back at him, a slightly confused expression on his face and he carried on with what he was doing. Jack smiled at him, at least Ianto was relaxed and happy, but if he was the still in the same state tonight then Jack was possibly going to have to rethink a few things. If nothing else, he had to stay in the same room as Ianto, psychologically it was the only thing that kept him calm.

He knew that was most definitely true when Ianto slept but Jack was also starting to realise that it was also true when Ianto was awake. Ianto liked to be near him, even Jack's mere presence seemed to be enough for him, bringing a security that Jack hadn't been aware of until now. Jack found it a little bit frightening, knowing that Ianto was so dependant on him. And in a way Jack was dependant on him.

Ianto had such a need to look after someone, anyone, after Lisa. For months he had cared for her, looking after her every need. Somehow that had been slowly transferred over to Jack, not just after Lisa died, but before as well. To a point it was self-preservation. Ianto wanted, needed, to be around the hub as much as possible and he had taken over so much of Jack's life. The basic chores, making sure Jack and everyone ate regularly, looking after the creatures in the vaults.

Jack didn't think it was just simple habit now, but rather it was something that Ianto needed to do. Although he was unable to do any of that now, he was completely dependant on Jack, and the rest of them. Until they fixed it, hopefully later on today.

Eventually Jack got his breath back and sat up. The aerobics routine had finished on the screen. Ianto was still putting Barney through his routine, making him do some sit-ups. Jack smiled.

"I think you're sending your Uncle Jack a little bit mad!" He leant forward and kissed Ianto squarely on the top of his head, it made him giggle. "Right, you stay there, I'll go and find something for breakfast."

Jack got up, ruffled Ianto's hair and walked out, aiming for the kitchen, leaving Ianto playing with Barney. As he reached the hallway he paused, blinking in shock. Had he really just referred to himself as 'Uncle Jack'? Even over the last two days, everyone had got far too comfortable in dealing with Ianto in his infant state. Including himself. He took a deep breath and shook his head. Before he could make it to the kitchen there was a sharp knock at the door.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Gwen hesitated slightly as she stood at Ianto's door. She didn't know why she felt nervous, well perhaps a little. Being nosy wasn't exactly something that induced mind blowing terror but she didn't want Jack to think she was… interfering or…

"Oh for God's sake," she muttered and knocked on the door.

For a moment there was silence. She knew Jack was still here, the SUV in the car park left a rather clear hint. Rhys had frowned a little when he had dropped her off that morning. She had left her own car at Torchwood having been dropped off yesterday. But like so many other times Rhys didn't comment. He just frowned, looked at her for a long time and then accepted.

Gwen was almost going to knock again when Jack opened the door. She looked him up and down, he was dressed as he usually was, the clothes impeccably cleaned and ironed. Gwen wondered if it had been Ianto or Jack who had done it.

"Hi," Jack said sounding a little confused. Gwen smiled and held up a bag of shopping.

"I didn't know if you had anything in for breakfast. Rhys dropped me off."

"Oh," Jack seemed to literally shake the confusion off and he smiled. "Come in."

He stepped back from the door and Gwen sidled past him. She paused in the hallway and Jack saw her eyes scan the décor.

"Is Ianto all right?" she asked. Jack nodded in the direction of the lounge.

"He's in there watching television and making Barney do his aerobics." Jack grinned at the confusion on her face. Jack took the bag off her and he went past her to the kitchen. Gwen went into the lounge. Ianto was still on the floor and Barney was now doing star jumps. Gwen smiled at him.

"Hi Ianto."

He jumped a little and looked round at her. Barney ceased jumping about and Ianto pulled the bear onto his lap.

"Hello," he replied. And to Gwen he suddenly sounded very guarded.

"I brought some breakfast for you and Jack."

Ianto smiled but still his eyes stayed wary. Gwen smiled and backed out of the room. It oddly occurred to her that Ianto had always seemed a little like that. But she hadn't paid it much heed. He appeared to be a bit like that with everyone, but now she started to realise it was more obvious with her than with everyone else. She went into the kitchen, to find Jack rummaging around in the bag.

"Oohh waffles," Jack said pulling the packet out of the bag. Then he looked at the syrup, and the pancake mix she had also brought. "Why is that so many foods seemed designed to make a three year old sticky?"

Gwen grimaced, "I didn't think about that."

Jack grinned. "It doesn't matter, it is the reason I haven't bothered to dress him yet, I'll do that after breakfast. Should be another fun experience."

"I can help you know," Gwen said. Jack looked at her steadily.

"If Ianto remembers this, I do not think that he will appreciate knowing that his female colleagues have seen him in such a state. At least with me it will be a little easier for him."

"Well, Rhys helped him as well, he had to."

"Which again is different," Jack said. "Besides, Rhys is male and Ianto doesn't exactly see him very often. No Gwen, it will be easier in the long run."

"In the long run, if this has a long run, you may have to rethink it."

Jack glared at her, she shrugged, opening the pancake mix packet up so she didn't have to meet his eyes.

"It's not going to have a long run, I've tested the calculations to death, Tosh and Owen have done the same with the machine and we'll make sure it's thoroughly tested before we use it on him."

He could see Gwen looking slightly doubtful, but they didn't get a chance to say anymore as from the living room Ianto howled. Gwen dropped the packet in shock and turned to follow Jack as he sprinted from the kitchen into the living room.

Ianto was sat on the floor, cradling his right arm. His forearm was marked by four, deep scratches that were dripping blood onto his pyjamas and the cushion.

"Shit!" Jack said. He glanced at Brad who was on the sofa, watching carefully. Jack ignored him, he went to Ianto crouching next to him. Gwen looked at Ianto, who was crying loudly and then at Brad, who arched his back and flexed his claws. However the cat gave an outraged yowl as Gwen shunted him off the sofa, pushing him off with her foot. Brad turned on her and hissed. Gwen stamped her foot in his direction.

"Go away," she snapped at the cat. She moved to kick him again and Brad decided it was obviously best to beat a retreat and he shot out of the room. Gwen turned back to them. Jack had pulled Ianto on his lap and was examining the claw marks while at the same time he comforted him. He cuddled Ianto close and kissed him on the top of his head.

"All right, it's okay Ianto," Jack murmured soothingly. Ianto carried on crying, huge tears rolling down his face, but he rested his head on Jack's chest, leaning against him. Carefully Jack picked him up.

"Let's get him in the kitchen. It will be easier to clean up any mess in there."

Gwen felt slightly disconcerted as she watched Jack pick Ianto up. He carefully cradled Ianto in his arms and carried him out. There was an odd level of comfortableness between them. She probably wouldn't have spotted it, or she hadn't seen it, prior to this. It was something she hadn't really thought about.

She didn't honestly think that Jack played favourites with them, not consciously anyway. But she had always felt that she and Jack had some sort of connection. That went beyond them simply working together. Jack and Ianto had been so subtle with each other that their connection was hardly seen. Until now. Jack couldn't hide it now Ianto was so vulnerable. He was living, temporarily, in an age that needed to see it. And it occurred to her as well, as she hurried to follow them, that she was the only one bothered by it. Owen and Toshiko, had probably been aware of it, and it didn't bother them.

And she knew Jack and Ianto were in a relationship. But she thought that had just been mainly physical. What had changed? She wondered.

Jack was rummaging in a drawer when she followed him in and he pulled out a clean tea towel. Sitting down on one of the chairs, with Ianto cradled to him, he started to dab at the wounds.

"Does he have a first aid kit?" Gwen asked.

"Bathroom, in the cupboard by the sink, bottom shelf on the left. It should have anti-septic wipes, and dressings in it," Jack said, his voice a little distracted, but his instructions held the accuracy of someone who knew the flat from top to bottom. Gwen turned and ran up the stairs. Brad shot off into the bedroom, obviously not keen on getting another boot up the arse. She opened the cupboard and found the kit, bringing it back down into the kitchen.

Ianto was still tucked up on Jack's lap, his cries reduced to sniffles, looking up at Jack with rueful eyes. Jack had known exactly what had happened. As soon as Gwen had left the room he had looked down at Ianto.

"Did you try and pick Brad up?" he had asked gently. Ianto's crying had intensified a little but he had nodded.

"Brad didn't like it did he?"

Ianto shook his head burying his face in Jack's chest. He was going to have to change his shirt, he just hoped he didn't have blood on his trousers. Maybe he could get Gwen to iron, he thought hopefully. He heard her feet coming back down the stairs. Ianto snuggled against him tightly.

"It's all right," Jack said. "Does it hurt?"

"Uh-huh," Ianto sniffled. Jack, having cleaned off as much blood as possible looked at the scratches frowning a little. They were deep, Brad had really meant to do damage. Jack felt an overwhelming urge to break Brad's neck, but that wouldn't solve anything. Ianto had always treated the cat with a careful level of respect. Surely he would have had enough presence of mind remaining to be aware of that. Jack glanced up as he watched Gwen gather up several wipes from the first aid kit, she opened the first one and then crouched down in front of them. Ianto protested a little as she gently took his hand. Jack watched her, feeling the tension in Ianto. He usually couldn't hide his feelings completely and Jack felt a sliver of something more. Ianto had always been wary around Gwen, and a little jealous, and she had been in the kitchen with him when Brad had attacked.

Jack clenched his jaw. He didn't want to believe that it had been done deliberately but it meant his attention had snapped to Ianto immediately.

"It's all right," she said gently. Very carefully she started to clean the wounds. The blood was still flowing but not as dramatically. However Gwen winced as she looked at them.

"Owen had better look at these when we get in," she commented. Jack nodded and ran his hand through Ianto's hair. Ianto sniffed again, watching Gwen carefully while he huddled into Jack.

Then again, like he had already thought, Ianto's behaviour had been less subtle as a child. Although Ianto was not stupid enough to do serious damage to himself, Jack had not trusted him for a long while after Lisa, keeping a close eye on him. Ianto had a streak of self-destructive behaviour. Gwen had paused what she was doing, holding the wipe against Ianto's arm and applying pressure, raising it as First Aid required. Jack looked at her and she frowned in confusion. Jack shook his head. It was not something he was about to disclose to her. Gwen went back to what she was doing.

She went through five wipes cleaning up his arm. The scratches were still seeping, they ran from his elbow almost to his wrist. Gwen started rummaging to find a dressing large enough to cover it. In the end she was forced to use two to cover the scratches. Very carefully she put them on and fixed them in place, winding some gauze around his arm to hold it on. She fixed it with tape and then looked up at him. He had stopped crying but he was curled up against Jack, his face a little blotchy and his lower lip was still trembling. Once Gwen released his hand he cradled his arm to his chest.

"Does it still hurt?" Jack asked him. Ianto whimpered and nodded, still looking very sorrowful. "You'll be okay," Jack added, rocking him gently. It obviously soothed Ianto because he cuddled up closer to Jack. Jack looked down at him, seeing the drops of blood on his pyjamas. He looked up at Gwen.

"I'll get him dressed now, I don't want him sitting in blood stained pyjamas," Jack said, then smirked. "Do you mind starting breakfast?"


	9. Chapter 9

They arrived at the hub a little after ten. Jack had dressed Ianto in a pair of beige combat trousers, a tee shirt and red sweatshirt. Gwen had obligingly set up breakfast after eyeing Jack curiously, probably knowing him well enough to realise he had something on his mind and that he wasn't about to tell. They had eaten rather companionably, although Ianto was a little subdued. He sat next to Jack again and Gwen was on Jack's left at the head of the table. Amazingly, and again with the help of a very large napkin, Ianto stayed relatively unsticky.

However, Jack's shirt and the cushion cover were a little less well off. Gwen put them in to soak to try and get the blood out. But she didn't hold out much hope. Still, if they righted Ianto today, Jack thought as he changed into a new shirt, he'll sort it out. At that time, Ianto was sat on the bed in the spare room watching him. He refused to stay downstairs with Gwen.

Jack didn't think it was necessary to look quite as hurt as she did. Ianto was a kid, and there was no denying the fact his state had simplified his complex adult feelings, which in turn made them more obvious. But she had to surely have known that Ianto was marginally jealous of her.

Ianto rested in Jack's arms as he carried him into the hub, his back was complaining just a fraction, but not as much as he thought it would. If he had strained it, it was only very mild. And he hoped that he wouldn't be carrying him around for much longer. Gwen had the laptop with the calibrations saved on it tucked under her arm.

"Owen!" Jack shouted, going into the autopsy room. "Can you look at Ianto's arm?"

He carried Ianto down to him, while Gwen took the laptop to Toshiko. Jack sat Ianto down on the bench in the autopsy room. Ianto's eyes strayed to the implements on the side. He looked at them with horrified fascination while Jack rolled up his sleeve and started to remove the dressing. He flinched as Jack pulled the dried blood that had stuck the gauze to the wound.

Owen gently took Ianto's arm, turning it one way and then the other to get a clear look.

"Christ," he said. "What happened?"

"The cat scratched him."

Owen looked up at Jack, raising his eyebrows as he did so. "Scratched! I'd go with mauled."

Ianto cuddled Barney with his other arm, hugging him tightly to his chest. His face again buried in his fur, but his blue eyes peeked at Owen.

"Jack?" Toshiko called. Jack patted Ianto's head and went up the stairs. However he stayed in the doorway where Ianto could see him.

"You understand all that?" he asked, looking at the numbers running over her screen.

"I think so, I can certainly use it to line up the scanners when they power it up, so the machine should calibrate it right, but we will test it."

"Ow!" Ianto said as Owen took him by surprise. Having rolled his sleeve up to the top of his arm he had given him a tetanus jab. Ianto glared at Owen and clouted him with Barney. Owen ignored him.

"It's for your own good."

Ianto pouted and whacked Owen again, almost hitting him in the face.

"I'd watch it Owen, Barney's done his exercises this morning," Jack warned and then went into a round of spontaneous giggles. He was giggling so hard he couldn't explain himself. Everyone eventually ignored him. Owen went back to cleaning off Ianto's arm and examining the scratches. They were deep but he drew the line at putting in any stitches, so he washed them and dressed it a little better. Gwen and Toshiko went to work on the machinery and the calculations and Jack stayed in the middle, intermittently gigging and setting Ianto off by glancing at him and pulling faces.

"What have you been doing to him?" Owen asked Ianto, who just smiled. It was hard to tell with his face in Barney's fur, but his eyes brightened in a way that made Owen pause and regard him carefully. Ianto had won a victory somewhere along the way. Owen smiled and shook his head. Somewhere in there surely Ianto knew that he was going to get wound up over some of this. At the moment he didn't seem to care, so whatever it was, it must have been good.

"Come on, Little Prince." Owen hefted Ianto off the bed and put him down guiding him to the stairs. He stayed behind him the whole way. He didn't fancy Ianto falling down but he clambered up the stairs competently enough and went to Jack, leaning against his leg. Jack put a hand on his head and grinned down at him. Then he looked back up at Tosh. Oddly, to Owen at least, he didn't pick Ianto up.

"So, are we going to test this thing?"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Ianto watched the whole experiment from the safety of Jack's lap. They had set everything up in the firing range, the machine, the particle scanner, an energy boost from the microtron. They ran the process, and again, and again until they had aged an entire litter of rats that were now haring around a tank in irritation, shock, or confusion - Owen wasn't sure what. He had everyone convinced that all the rats were fine. They were fine. Ianto was watching them run around with intense fascination.

"What if they show after effects hours later?" Gwen asked, actually dampening the excitement slightly.

"He's been running around for two days with the after effects of that machine. There is nothing wrong with him; there are no side effects, other that if we get this wrong it… will be bad." Owen said, the last part sounding terribly lame.

"It's not going to go wrong, we've got the calibration right, I've got it right for the rats, I have it right for Ianto. This is working."

Everyone paused and looked around. Ianto stopped gawping at the tank of rats and looked around, he looked up at Jack first and then around the rest of the group. He seemed to sense something was up, he batted Jack with Barney to get his attention. Jack looked down at him and ruffled his hair.

"Everything's fine."

Ianto didn't look convinced. He huddled into Jack, looking around as if seeing the dark, cavernous room for the first time. Jack hugged him.

"Jack, there is a difference between rats and Ianto." Owen spoke very cautiously and Jack could tell there was a second part to what he was saying. Presumably so did Gwen and Toshiko since they stared at him. Toshiko had a slight frown on her face, with a trace of disapproval.

"I'm very much aware of that," Jack said cautiously. Owen took an unnecessary breath.

"Before we work on Ianto, I want a larger subject." He rolled his eyes around to the rest of the group before looking at Jack. "I want to age one of the weevils."

"Owen!" Toshiko snapped.

"Can we do that?" Gwen asked.

"I think you should be asking, 'should we do that?'" Toshiko said.

Jack for the moment said nothing. He got up from the chair, lifting Ianto onto his hip, holding him tightly. For a moment he didn't speak, instead he went to look at the tank of rats. Some of them now looked less frantic. Instead they were busy eating the food Owen had put in there, and drinking the water, their tongues lapping at the bowl frantically.

"I thought you said that the size of the subject had no bearing on the power needed, or the age ratio. We've tested that theory."

"I know but…" Owen paused and faltered. "And I know in a way I'm putting it off. Not because I don't want Ianto fixed, I can't cope with twenty or so years of this cuteness, waiting for him to get back to normal. But we've never run an experiment as huge as this on one of us."

"Excuse me, singularity scalpel to remove huge alien egg from belly!"

"Ditto Martha's mayfly. And you had less practice time on that thing," Toshiko added.

"And we set one of the weevils up to catch that fight club," Jack said.

"You shot Jack," Gwen said to Owen. Everyone paused and turned on her.

"What's that got to do with it?" Jack asked.

"You got shot and this idiot brought you back with a Resurrection Gauntlet," Toshiko added to Owen waving a hand in Jack's direction. Gwen looked shocked but Owen smirked.

Owen rolled his eyes. "Okay, what are we pointing out here? That no one has performed a completely stupid experiment on Ianto as of yet? Does he really feel that left out?"

Gwen shrugged. "Just pointing out, we've not always been careful with each other have we?" Gwen paused for a moment. "And I hate to say it but the longer we put it off, the less likely we are to go through with it, we'll just keep finding ways to delay it. Another check of the calibrations, the machine, Ianto…"

Ianto squeaked as he heard his name.

"We could end up finding a million and one excuses and he could grow up while we carry on like that."

"We need to be careful about this Gwen," Jack said.

"You were quite happy to let Owen use the singularity scalpel on me." She glared at him with a challenge in her eyes. Jack sighed.

"Actually I wasn't. But as Owen said, with a nostravite coming to rip you open we didn't have a huge number of options, we actually had one. This time we have a little more time but… you're right…" Jack said very falteringly. "We're sure it will work… but Owen's right as well. We'll sedate one of the weevils and bring it down."

"Jack you can't. It's not ethical!" Toshiko said. She never really forgiven him, or perhaps just not understood, why he had released the weevil to allow Mark Lynch to kidnap it. Jack hadn't liked it, but he had done it, and he was glad he had. He took a breath and turned round.

"I know Tosh, and I don't care. Owen."

Owen nodded. She sidled past the girls and went out to do exactly as Jack ordered.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

They had two young weevils in the vaults, neither of them more than a year, Owen thought. Owen chose the smaller of the two and between them they brought it down, settling it down on the table.

Toshiko said nothing, she was seriously not happy about this. None of them were, but Jack had to agree with Owen. Testing it on something larger was a worthwhile experiment, before they put Ianto in the firing line.

Jack wanted to do it, he had to do it. He had no right to keep Ianto like he was just because they were too frightened to try and fix it. And he didn't entirely understand their hesitation. They knew the dangers, and as they had argued, they had all been through something that had left them at risk. Maybe it was because this time, Ianto had become so vulnerable, and rather cute; a factor which seemed to have affected all of them. Even, it appeared, Owen, despite his protests to the contrary.

Ianto was becoming increasingly fretful. The tensions were rising as they realised they were coming closer to actually having to do what they needed to. He had fussed and whined when Jack had put him down to help Owen with the weevil and thrown a mild tantrum when Jack wouldn't pick him back up again, when he insisted on it.

However in the end Toshiko had taken over from him. Instead she helped Owen, with Gwen and Jack held Ianto. He settled a little, but not much. There was, Jack thought, a possibility that on some levels he understood exactly what they were doing, and he knew it was all about him. Ianto may have actually been trying to tell them that he just wanted it over and done with, but it could just be he sensed the fear in all of them. Jack sat on the table behind the machine and put Ianto next to him. Ianto clung and Jack hugged him.

"Everything will be fine."

He watched Toshiko and Owen power the machine again. There was the strange humming noise which indicated the device was doing whatever it was it did. The flash of light shimmering out from the machine engulfed the weevil lying sedated on the table. All five of them looked away even thought they were all wearing protective goggles. When they looked back, Jack breathed one sigh of relief. The weevil was still there, utterly intact and fast asleep. Owen ran to it to scan it again. He looked at the reading, scanned again and re-checked the reading. Then very slowly he looked up, at Jack.

"It worked."

Everyone stared again. It was hard to tell; true the weevil was a little bigger but essentially just the same. Owen walked over to him to show him the reading.

"It worked perfectly Jack," Owen repeated. "What do we do?"

Jack swallowed heavily, Ianto clambered onto him, wrapping his arms around his neck. Jack put an arm around him to steady him. That somehow, Owen thought, seemed to help him make up his mind. Jack's eyes suddenly focussed sharply and he looked at Owen. He slid off the table and lifted Ianto up.

"Take the weevil back down to the vaults, Toshiko get the machine powered up again. I'll get Ianto ready."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Jack brought Ianto back down wearing nothing but a white shirt. He had brought one with him just in case they got to this stage. Ianto couldn't stay in the kid's clothes he was wearing. If this worked he'd outgrow them in seconds. The logical thing was to keep him naked but since Toshiko needed to be there to work the machine and Gwen wouldn't leave, Jack wasn't about to have Ianto stood naked in front of his work colleagues.

So instead he went back to the way Ianto was dressed when he had found him to be an infant. A shirt. It would fit him when he grew back to his normal size, hopefully, and cover him up enough that it would be less awkward.

He also got Gwen to bring down Ianto's suit and underwear which he had been wearing when he had changed, so he could get dressed the moment this worked.

Jack couldn't help but feel mind-numbingly nervous as he brought Ianto back into the firing range. Toshiko was ready, Owen was ready, Gwen was ready. Jack wasn't sure he was. An accident was one thing, consciously putting Ianto in danger was… different to the rest of them. He wasn't sure why, it just was. He really didn't want to screw this up, or Ianto up, any further.

What concerned him, deep down, was Ianto's reaction. Had Jack made things worse, better, or no different? Which one did he want to happen? He certainly didn't want Ianto to blame him for what happened, or how he had managed over the last few days. He couldn't really, Ianto would understand that it was an accident, they had managed the best they could.

He stopped worrying as he realised they were looking at him expectantly.

"Jack?" Owen insisted indicating to the table.

Slowly Jack went over to the table and put Ianto down on it, sitting him on the edge. Ianto clung for a moment and Jack gently prised him off. As he backed off Ianto whimpered, he looked down at the floor which seemed horribly far away, looked back up at Jack and started to cry. Jack winced and glanced at the others.

"Almost ready," Toshiko said. Jack went back to Ianto and crouched down.

"I'm going to be here, I'm not going to leave you." Very gently Jack shushed Ianto down, until all he did was stare at him with wide eyes. For a moment Jack felt a shot of fear, maybe Ianto didn't want to go back. Was he really of a level that he could comprehend that in his own mind?

"Jack?"

He jumped a mile as he heard Gwen's voice. She had moved up behind him and held out Barney. Jack took him and put him in Ianto's lap. Ianto took him, wrapping his arms around him. Jack smiled at Ianto and wiped the tears off his cheek and then gently brushed some stray hairs back off his forehead.

"You hold onto Barney, and I'll be right here, just over there. I'm not going to leave you, okay?"

Ianto gave a little nod, sniffled and buried his head down into Barney. Jack realised he probably shouldn't have let Ianto watch all the experiments. He knew something was going on, and it was something that was about to happen to him. Jack wanted to run from the room so he wouldn't have to see it happen.

He wanted Ianto back. He wanted him back as a grown-up. The screwed up grown up that he was. The one that Jack loved. He loved this little Ianto, who seemed as just as screwed up, but his life had been so simplified over the last two days that he had seemed genuinely happy. Or maybe, just bloody maybe, Jack thought, he was happy anyway, damaged, badly psychologically scarred, but somehow in the middle of all that mess, just happy. With Jack.

"Jack?" Owen's voice this time, with a touch of impatience, he wanted this over and done with.

Jack rose up and leant over to kiss Ianto lightly on the forehead before he backed up, moving behind the safety line. Ianto kept his eyes on Jack, clinging onto Barney, shivering a little with cold and trying not to cry.

This time Jack didn't need the goggles. He closed his eyes, he couldn't look and he didn't dare watch. As the hum of the machine started, as it powered up he felt his throat constrict painfully. A hand moved into his. He knew it was Gwen's without even looking. Both Toshiko and Owen had their hands full with the machine, and neither of them would much bother to try and comfort him anyway, but Gwen would. He squeezed her hand and she squeezed back.

Even with his eyes shut the flash of light was obvious. The sound of the machine intensified and Jack felt himself holding his breath, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. His breath released and his heart rate almost doubled as the light faded and a voice, wonderfully familiar, well-accented and stridently stressed cut through the tense silence.

"What the bloody hell…?"


	10. Chapter 10

Jack opened his eyes to find Ianto. His Ianto, looking like he had done a few days ago, sitting on the edge of the table. This time his feet almost reached the floor. He looked around in confusion, automatically taking in his surroundings and then looking for Jack.

"Why are we in the firing range?" As he glared at Jack his eyes were almost popping out of his head. It wasn't helped when Jack grinned broadly, relief flooding through him.

"What's so bloody funny?"

Then Ianto's eyes rolled as he realised everyone else was in the room. He shifted slightly and looked down at himself. He was still holding Barney to his chest but as he realised he was wearing nothing but a shirt he gasped and slid Barney down to protect his groin. He jumped off the table and glared at everyone.

"Okay, is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" Ianto's voice wavered, the stress rising in him. Jack could see his eyes working frantically. Jack glanced at the others.

"All right out!"

Toshiko, who had been spending her time putting the device back into the secure box, had been very discreetly not looking in Ianto's direction. She was half turned away from him to emphasize the fact, as she snapped the locks into place she picked up the box and left.

"I'd like to do my job actually!" Owen snapped and picked up his scanner. He went over to Ianto, who was watching with wide eyes, he almost raised his hands, then suddenly realised he was clutching Barney, and with good reason. The shirt was long, but not long enough. He used both hands to keep Barney in place, flinching as Owen ran the scanner down him.

"Jack, perhaps…" Gwen started, and was abruptly stopped.

"Out!" Jack repeated sternly. Gwen looked a little unhappy with the order but she followed Tosh. Jack moved closer to Owen and Ianto. Ianto was watching Owen with wide eyes a little unable to do anything about the scanner except lean away from Owen, but he couldn't evade him. Owen looked at his readings.

"We're a little out actually," Owen said, he glanced up at Jack.

"What?" Ianto asked frowning and glancing at Jack for an explanation.

"What!" Jack growled at the same time. Owen glanced back down at his readings.

"He's four months, five days, six hours, fourteen minutes and ten seconds younger than he used to be. The machine appears to have rounded the calculation down. Not to be complained about I suppose…"

"Is he all right?" Jack demanded folding his arms across his chest and glaring at Owen. As Jack moved nearer, flanking Ianto, the young man moved to huddle closer. Jack felt an overwhelming urge to put his arms around Ianto and just hug him but for the moment he restrained himself.

"Perfectly, we must have just put the calibration a little out but… essentially four months is not something to worry about. Barney's the same age as he was before." Owen added blithely. "And a good thing the shirt is as well, otherwise that could have been interesting. It only works on organic matter."

Jack leant towards Owen and glared at him. "Get out!"

Owen flashed a smile. He glanced at Ianto, rolled his eyes and then followed in the wake of the girls. Ianto watched him go and then looked at Jack staying as close to him as possible.

"Jack, where the hell are my clothes?" Ianto asked in an almost frightened tone.

"Oh, sorry," Jack said. He went over to the nearest target where he had hung the suit up. Ianto's underwear was tucked on the coat hanger with his trousers, as were his socks. Jack laid it on the table and pulled out the underwear and socks first. Ianto tossed Barney onto the table, he landed on his side and as Ianto struggled to get his underwear on Jack reached over and moved him, shifting his stuffing around so he sat up. He still looked a little sorry for himself even then.

Ianto paused as he pulled his underwear up watching Jack curiously.

"Jack, what is going on?!"

Ianto grabbed his trousers and started to pull them on, looking at Jack with fear, anger and confusion in his eyes. Jack bit his lip and took a breath.

"What do you remember? Clearly remember?"

Ianto paused and frowned as he slowly fastened his belt and idly straightened up his shirt as he tucked it in. Ianto winced, his eyes de-focussed staring out into the middle distance before rolling down to look at Barney.

"Well… really clearly, tidying up the hub and then… lights and then I was scared, I didn't quite know where I was and everything seemed big…"

Jack smiled, "not exactly big, you were just marginally smaller." His smile faded as Ianto looked at him, glaring at him. He took the waistcoat Jack was holding off him and started to shrug it on. Jack automatically went to help him, pulling it up onto his shoulders. Ianto paused, turning around in confusion.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping," Jack said and then backed off. He let Ianto take the jacket off the coat hanger and dress himself. For the want of something to do Jack picked up Barney feeling the soft, plush fur that Ianto had clung to over the last two days.

"Do you remember anything after that?"

"It's a little jumbled," Ianto said. He paused as he was about to put his arm into the sleeve, wincing as the skin on his forearm pulled against the dressing. He put the jacket down and put a hand to his arm and then unfastened the cuff to pull the shirt sleeve up. He looked at the bandage and frowned. It was a little too small to cover the scratch, which had grown with Ianto's arm.

"Brad scratched you."

Ianto glanced up at Jack, he frowned again and for a moment the expression on his face was so reminiscent of his infant self that Jack reached forward and took hold of him and pulled him against his side, he put his arm around him.

"I was… it felt… I wanted to pick him up, even though you told me not to, not like I cuddled Barney." Ianto looked down at the teddy bear, still in Jack's hand, he reached to take it off him and he looked at Barney curiously.

"Jack?"

"One of the devices we tested, it kind of had an unusual affect, one that wasn't expected, it…" Jack wondered the best way to explain it. "It de-aged you, so you were three and a half."

"What?!" Ianto looked at Jack in horror.

"It literally re-wound you, physically at any rate. You were just under three and a half years old. But you remembered me and them…" Jack nodded in the direction of the door. "… and where you were. You still had all your memories but you were a kid, so you couldn't kind of process them too well."

As Jack spoke he backed up to the table perching against it. Ianto, in Jack's grip, did the same. He held Barney in both hands again, clenched around the teddy bear's torso, looking down at it as if he expected it to come up with an even better explanation than Jack.

"Tosh bought me… Barney?"

"Yeah, she thought he might be… you know… comforting. It seemed to work," Jack said carefully. "You have been quite attached to him."

Ianto nodded. He kept looking at Barney. Jack wondered if he would get an explanation of what Toshiko knew with regard to that. Ianto said nothing, looking at Barney with a frown on his face. Jack presumed Ianto had no intention of expanding on the subject.

"Is any of it clear?" he asked to break the silence.

"A little, it's weird, it's kind of there, how long have I been like that?"

"Two days there about, just over 48 hours at any rate, not too long." Jack wanted to make it sound a minimal as possible. At least if the memories were a little jumbled then Ianto might not feel too bad. It was probably hard not to feel a little humiliated when you were at a stage when things just happened and you couldn't really hope to control yourself.

"And everyone's been…" Ianto looked up. He gazed at Jack, took a sudden shocking breath and his eyes widened. "Oh my God, I peed under your desk!"

Jack winced. "Yeah, I don't think you really meant to, you were just sort of scared. Having just been changed into a three year old it was kind of understandable."

Ianto gave a flash of a smile. He looked down at Barney, he frowned a little as if he was trying to sort out his memories, then he looked back up at Jack.

"You've been looking after me?" It was more a statement of fact than a question. Jack smiled and hugged Ianto close, he turned his head and kissed Ianto lightly on the temple.

"Of course, we had to make sure we got the machine right though, that's why it took so long."

"I'm glad to hear that," Ianto said. Jack smiled, it was nice to hold onto Ianto, as a grown-up. He could hardly believe that it worked, he was glad it had. A baby employee was not something they were prepared for.

"Are you all right? Do you feel okay?"

"Fine, just about. Everything seems a little strange, but I feel all right. Should I expect any side affects?"

Jack winced and kissed the side of his head again, gently. He caught the slight scent of the baby shampoo that he had used on Ianto's hair the previous night. Jack sighed in relief, it was good to have Ianto back as he was.

"Nothing seemed to adversely affect you when you youthenised. Owen's word." Jack added in explanation. "But he's probably going to want to take another look at you, just check you're all right."

He felt Ianto flinch visibly and his hands tightened on Barney.

"He's gonna have to Ianto," Jack reasoned.

"I know, just not yet, just let me… oh I don't know."

"Actually I do."

The others got the surprise of their life as Jack and Ianto came back up from the firing range. Ianto made straight for the hub doors and left without a word to anyone. Jack watched him go before heading towards his office.

"Jack, where's he going?" Gwen asked.

"I need to run tests," Owen said. Jack turned to them.

"Just leave him alone all right, just… leave him alone."

"But Jack, you can't just let him wander off," Gwen said.

"He's not wandering off, he just wants to get out for a bit, on his own. He'll be back later."

Jack cut off any further objections by storming into his office, dropping dramatically into his chair and slamming the nearest keyboard. All three of them glanced at each other knowing full well that Jack was looking at the CCTV, tracking Ianto. Wherever the hell he was going.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Ianto, as he walked, wasn't quite sure where he was going. He just strolled along, looking around, seeing things as he normally saw them.

As far as he could tell Jack wasn't following him, although if that was the case he guessed he was tracking him on CCTV. Ianto knew most of the places that the cameras couldn't reach so he could have disappeared off their radar, but Ianto couldn't really summon up much enthusiasm for such an act. He didn't want to worry any of them, or scare Jack. All he wanted to do was be alone for a bit.

He paused walking as the sound of children reached him. He looked around and realised he had walked to the park, to the adventure playground. That felt very familiar to him, in a rather strange way. He looked at it, watching the children playing. Something flashed into his mind, something recent.

Looking at the playground, he recognised the tower, and the bridge and the place the bully had pushed him off. His knee ached a little at the memory. And he remembered someone else picking him up, not Jack, someone that he wasn't quite familiar with but somehow knew.

"Hi."

Ianto jumped, snatched out of his reverie, and the memory locked into place.

"Rhys. Hello."

Rhys paused a little distance from him with a sports bag held in one hand, he looked a little flushed and his hair was lank with sweat. Ianto vaguely remembered Gwen saying something about him playing five-a-side on Sundays. He watched Rhys look him up and down. It wasn't scrutiny Ianto would normally have felt comfortable about but this time he felt fine with it.

"They did it then?" Rhys eventually asked. "Fixed you. Sorry, that's kind of obvious really, isn't it?"

Ianto looked down at himself and then back up. "Yeah, about half an hour ago."

Rhys frowned slightly. "Should you be wandering about on your own then? Not that you can't… you know manage now… I don't mean… is it safe…" Rhys stumbled desperately, obviously trying to find whatever the right thing to say in a situation like this. There probably wasn't a right thing to say, Ianto decided.

"No side effects, feeling sick or anything." Rhys finally coordinated his words.

Ianto shook his head. "No, I'm fine, there wasn't any after effects the last time, only the whole I was a kid thing."

"One hell of a side effect really," Rhys said. "So you're back to normal?"

"I'm just over four months younger than I used to be," Ianto said. Rhys grinned.

"Don't knock it, you'll be glad of that in a few years," Rhys assured him. Ianto smiled, he looked back to the playground and his smile faded as he looked at one of the people playing there. Rhys followed his gaze, then back again, seeing Ianto's face as he watched Amiee playing. Rhys' eyes strayed further to see her grandmother watching from her usual bench.

"You got on very well with her," Rhys said with a grin. Ianto looked at him.

"I could say the same about you."

"I was not playing kiss chase," Rhys said archly. Ianto laughed.

"You didn't tell Jack about that did you? God knows what way he'd find to pervert that."

"I don't want to know, Gwen asking me how you'd play naked hide and seek was quite enough for my mind, never mind how you'd manage to cheat."

"That's Jack for you, his mind is somewhat advanced to ours in that capacity."

"You seem to keep up fairly well."

Ianto smiled, took a breath and looked around again. Amiee had run to her grandmother for her drink of juice, Ianto frowned and watched. Rhys stepped a little closer.

"Are you really all right?"

"It's just hard when your memory is so unclear and yet you get the sense of everything, and you know it's just… oh I don't know."

"Come on, I'm going to the pub, I'll buy you one." Rhys took Ianto's arm firmly.

"I'm not really in the mood for a drink, plus I shouldn't, I'd promised Jack I'd come back to the hub."

"So, I'll get you a coke and a sandwich," Rhys said. He took Ianto's arm and steered him away from the playground. Ianto risked one glance back, Amiee's grandmother was looking their way, watching as Rhys took Ianto's arm protectively and led him away. She frowned as she watched them. Looking at Rhys again she realised it was the same man she had seen yesterday, and she had been keeping half an eye on the troubled looking young man in the suit, who had been staring at the playground so intently. The scene now looked so familiar to her as she watched Rhys guide Ianto away.

Cardiff was, now and again, a strange place to live. Most residents who had been there long enough couldn't deny that. But that was just a little too strange to her. The young man's eyes looked right on him now, not like they had yesterday. Just a little too old for that babyish face. She blinked and shook her head turning back to her granddaughter as Amiee started to babble about her new baby brother.

She tried to just shake off the feeling, but it would stay on her mind for a very long time.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Rhys led Ianto to a quiet corner of the pub and got him settled before going to the bar. As he ordered he kept glancing in Ianto's direction just to make sure he was okay. Ianto just sat still, his eyes roving over the other occupants of the pub. He probably could have left but he didn't want to upset Rhys, who looked so concerned. Plus it would have been a bit rude, he added, trying to ignore the fact so many of his senses and feelings felt rather settled around Rhys.

"Here you go," Rhys put a tall glass of coke and a plate of sandwiches down in front of him. "Cheese and tomato."

Ianto managed a smile. "Thanks."

As Rhys went back for his own pint and ham salad sandwiches Ianto carefully peeled back the top slice of bread and extracted a sliver of tomato from the sandwich and ate it. Rhys came back and as he sat down he watched Ianto do exactly as he had the day before. Ianto bit into the sandwich chewing slowly and frowning at the grin on Rhys' face.

"You actually do that then, or are you just remembering yesterday?" Rhys asked.

"What?" Ianto asked as he chewed on the sandwich.

"Take the salad items out of the sandwich and eat them, you did that yesterday."

"I always do it."

"I just thought you were just being three and strange. Never realised you were grown up and strange as well. Why don't you just have the tomato separate?"

"It doesn't taste the same," Ianto said, extracting another slice.

"So did you used to do that as a kid?"

Ianto shook his head and ate the tomato. "No, I never used to eat anything remotely healthy, unless I was really bullied into it. I was about eighteen when I discovered soggy sandwich salad. Jack thinks I'm nuts, he won't let me eat sandwiches with salad in them in front of the others."

Rhys laughed. "Like Jack's got any room to talk, how was he when you changed back?"

"Pleased I think, it was… you know," Ianto paused and took a sip of his drink, flinching a little as he tasted it.

"Vodka," Rhys said. "You looked like you needed something."

Ianto smiled, didn't dispute him and took another swallow. "I don't know. Remembering things, and what happened, and how I was with the others. I'm not sure I can really face them."

"You're not the first one to go through something, my wedding day is distinctly memorable. Gwen will understand how you feel if nothing else."

Ianto looked down at his sandwich, his face tensing slightly. Rhys frowned in concern.

"And Jack's all right isn't he? He's not mad at you or anything?"

Ianto shook his head. "No, it's just... I suppose I'm the one that's a bit mad, at myself. It's hard to... just knowing how helpless I was."

Ianto sighed, looked down and felt a sudden rush of tears. He put a hand over his eyes, resting his elbow on the table and tried to get himself under control. Rhys said nothing. He just waited and carried on eating. As Ianto desperately tried to get over it he ran though what everyone else would do. Jack would have hugged him, Owen would have found something sarcastic to say, Gwen probably would have talked about feelings and Toshiko would have held his hand and tried to sympathise.

Rhys did none of that. He just sat there and waited for him to get over it. When he did he looked up.

"Thanks."

"For what?" Rhys asked in confusion.

"Not doing anything, not trying to make me feel better or… anything."

"Was I supposed to?" Rhys asked in concern. "It's not like when that bully pushed you off the bridge. When you started crying then I knew I had to do something but… you were three and you wanted it. That amount of howling made that obvious."

"I did," Ianto sighed. "I just get a horrible feeling that I'm going to be treated like a child for a while."

"You were only a kid for a couple of days, they didn't get that much into a habit surely."

"Kind of. There were skills coming out that I didn't think any of them had."

Rhys gave a slightly non-committal grunt then looked at Ianto.

"Can I ask…" he paused and faltered. Ianto carried on eating and shrugged, Rhys grimaced but carried on. "… as a baby sitter. How was I?"

Ianto choked slightly, banging himself on the chest to dislodge the lump of sandwich. Rhys hurried on.

"I mean it's the only babysitting job I've ever done and it made me think, since I've been trying to get Gwen to sit down and chat about us… you know… me and her having a family. I think she was slightly geared for it when she was working for the police, but now with Torchwood she's changed."

Rhys paused. Ianto stopped coughing.

"I think she thinks that she can't now and I don't know if she was thinking about it just to please me or… if something else is stopping her. I know about the whole danger thing, I've been there!" Rhys sighed.

He looked up at Ianto with an expression that Ianto didn't like to see and it made the jealousy rise in him. This time more complex than when Jack had referred to Gwen as a pretty lady, or when she turned up for breakfast that morning. Ianto visibly started as those memories locked into place but Rhys didn't seem to notice.

"There isn't anything else stopping her, is there?"

The jealous husband asked the jealous lover. They knew it as they looked at each other. Gwen was jealous of Ianto, Ianto was jealous of Gwen, Rhys was jealous of Jack and Ianto felt suddenly extra jealous of Gwen. Not because of her connection with Jack but because she had Rhys. Even deep down Jack would accept that Rhys was far better for her than he was. It was why Jack made sure she stayed with him. It occurred to Ianto that Rhys wasn't simply grounding Gwen, but by chain reaction he was grounding all of them.

It wasn't Gwen anchoring Torchwood in the real world, it was Rhys. And he had done it so very well for Ianto yesterday afternoon. Of all of them, he was the most normal with him while his mind had whirled around, understanding nothing in that three year old little brain he had been lumbered with.

"No," Ianto said, probably a little more forcefully than he should have done. "Jack asked me, when I get back today, he asked me to get the maternity policy out for Gwen to have a look at. I think it came up when they were out yesterday. Well, kind of hard not to when one of the employees is a child."

"Oh," Rhys said. "Really? She mentioned it?"

"I think so, sorry. I don't know if she was supposed to be secretive about it."

"No, no, it's fine."

Rhys said nothing for a minute. Instead for a while both of them concentrated on eating and drinking.

"Do you want another?" Rhys eventually asked as he finished his drink.

Ianto smiled. "Could I get a pint this time?"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Are you all right?" Owen took Ianto by surprise by the coffee machine. Ianto had returned and realised they were down in the conference room, so he had gone to make coffee. Ianto needed one to help clear his head. Two pints and one large vodka and coke were probably not the best thing after being reconverted by an alien blast.

"Yeah, I just kind of need a coffee." Ianto tried to coordinate himself. Owen rolled his eyes and shouldered Ianto aside to work the coffee machine himself. "Just be careful that…."

"I know how this machine works Ianto, you showed me…"

Ianto stopped trying to intervene and Owen poured him a coffee and handed it to him.

"You put it in Jack's mug."

"I'm sure he won't mind a bit of your spit in it."

"Not what he said last night," Ianto said, sitting down and sipping at the coffee. Owen's head whipped round and he gave Ianto a hard stare. Ianto looked up and slowly his brain reminded him that he had been three and a half last night.

"We were making dinner and I kept licking the spoon while I stirred the tuna."

"Right, sorry, I didn't mean anything by that," Owen said. He carried on making the coffees. "I need to run those tests. Do you want me to do them now while everyone is occupied? Aside from the blood test, that's probably best left for now."

"Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, I guess you needed something after the last few days. Look, don't worry, I found you very un-cute and I refused to go into broody mode. Although I don't think Jack was that broody either, more sort of practical. You seemed to know how to handle him though." Owen smirked.

Ianto said nothing. He wasn't quite sure what to make of Jack during the last two days. He had been very reassuring, most of the time, at least when he wasn't dying, Ianto thought to himself.

"What are they talking about down there?"

"Not you, if that's what you're worried about," Owen said continuing to make coffee for everyone, and casually putting it in the wrong mugs. Ianto started to wonder if Owen was actually doing that deliberately.

"Yesterday's meteor mainly, and some of the other things we've been running tests on. We don't need to discuss the youthenising machine, we've tested that to death. Although Jack's right the calculations are enough to make anyone's brain mushy."

Ianto giggled. That told him, and probably Owen, how drunk he was. He felt a little light-headed.

"Right I'll take these down to that lot and I'll tell Jack's you're back, and that I'm going to run the tests on you now." Owen put the mugs on a tray and picked it up. "Can you make your way to the autopsy room without incident?"

"I'm not that drunk," Ianto said. "And I presume Jack already knows I'm back."

Owen shrugged, "he followed you on CCTV a little but he seemed to relax when Rhys took you into his custody. Even though you're no longer on his mental level."

"Owen!"

"Go on Little Prince Ianto, you need to get yourself into the domain of Evil Lord Owen."

"You're going to get so much mileage out of that aren't you?"

Ianto followed Owen the stairs thinking, not for the first time, that now they had moved the conference room they ought to move the coffee machine. Still no one had really thought about it, except Ianto who was the one that usually made coffee.

"Yes, I am. That lot being broody has just as much value. What was with you and Toshiko though?"

"What?"

"The whole Barney thing?"

Ianto scowled at him. Owen raised his eyebrows but said nothing, instead he just nodded in the direction of the autopsy room.

"Go on then."

Ianto sighed but did as he was told. As he waited he looked to Toshiko's desk. Barney sat on top of some files, resting back against her monitor to prevent his drunken roll onto his back. Ianto went over and picked him up, looking at him, at his plush fur, serene face and the trace of stuffing that was coming out where one of the arm seams had ripped. Ianto stuffed it back into the small hole and made a note to mend him later.

"You can bring Barney with you if you like," Owen said, making him jump. Ianto went to put Barney down, then changed his mind and tucked him under his arm as he followed Owen. Ianto hopped onto the bed and waited for Owen to set everything up.

"Would you like me to scan Barney as well?" Owen asked. Ianto frowned, and then felt another memory lock into place.

"No, thank you," Ianto said rolling over the memories he had of Owen over those last two days. He frowned as one significant memory came to him.

"You spanked me!"

Owen spun round. "You kicked me first!"

For a moment they glared at each other. Owen blinked and looked away first, fiddling with the equipment.

"Sorry. Hysterical toddlers are not something I'm particularly prepared for." His voice was more than a little subdued.

"It's all right," Ianto said. Ianto remembered it had rather hurt at the time, but couldn't really dispute the reason behind it. There was silence for a moment as Owen organised himself and Ianto fiddled with one of Barney's ears.

"Was that true what you said?" Ianto eventually asked.

"What?" Owen said abstractedly as he set up a syringe. A little alcohol in the bloodstream wasn't going to affect his readings much, he decided.

"What you said to Toshiko about your mother avoiding all kinds of physical contact. You weren't just talking about smacking were you?"

"No," Owen said shortly, he turned around and Ianto offered his arm for Owen to insert the needle. Ianto winced as Owen was a little rougher that he usually was.

"Sorry," Owen said, realising what he was doing. He concentrated on drawing the blood out and then carefully removed the needle giving Ianto a small piece of cotton wool to press against the wound. Ianto pressed it down, having hooked his arm around Barney to stop him falling.

"Do you want to…?" Ianto started.

"No," Owen said before Ianto could ask him to talk about it.

For a moment awkwardness hung in the air like a heavy rain cloud, only to be broken when Jack appeared in the doorway and coughed loudly.

"When you two are finished can you join us downstairs?"

Both Owen and Ianto gave slightly subdued nods, neither of them particularly wanted to know how much of that conversation Jack had heard, so neither of them bothered to speculate. Instead Owen finished the tests and they both went down, so Owen could report his findings.

No one commented on the fact that Ianto was still, whether consciously or unconsciously, holding onto Barney.


	11. Chapter 11

Ianto was stitching carefully as he heard a knock against the door frame. He hadn't even heard the beaded curtain rattle, never mind the door to the hub open. However he looked up in shock at Toshiko and accidently stabbed his finger with the needle.

"Ow! Bollocks!" He put his finger in his mouth, tasting the metallic edge of blood.

"Sorry, I didn't realise you were…"

"No, Tosh, it's fine." Ianto said, his voice a little muffled by the finger in his mouth. He took it out and looked at her. "Are you all right? Do you need something…?"

Ianto had almost risen out of his seat but as Toshiko moved forward he was forced to sit back down again. There wasn't really much space to move about in his little office there. It didn't really need the space, this was the first time in a long time that anyone but him had entered it. Toshiko looked around. It was full, but very neat, files stacked along one shelf, carefully numbered. Jack's paperwork – all the stuff he hated – in a filing tray on a shelf over the desk. And everything he was currently working on set in a holder on the desk. The computer was working away on a programme that compiled every bit of data that went through the hub. How Ianto coped with it Jack didn't question. He was just bloody grateful most of the time that Ianto did it.

"No, I just came to see if you were all right."

"Oh, fine," Ianto put Barney down on the desk as he realised he was clinging onto him. Toshiko smiled as she watched Ianto automatically plump his stuffing to stop Barney rolling onto his back.

"And I'm sorry!"

"What?" Ianto looked up baffled to find Toshiko on the edge of tears. She gave a heavy sigh, that was clearly an attempt to control her emotions.

"I know what... when we talked... after Mary. I didn't tell anyone what Barney meant, and I didn't mean to..."

Seeing her distress Ianto got up in the confined space and went to hug her.

"It's all right. I guess they all know there's something. And it doesn't matter. Thank you for him. He was very comforting. Still is I think," Ianto mused, glancing down at the teddy on his desk.

"It's just made me think," Toshiko said.

"About what?" Ianto asked into the top of her head. She rested her cheek against his shoulder feeling very comfortable there with Ianto's arms around her. Over the last two days Ianto had come to appreciate there was something rather comforting about hugging. Feeling her relax against him he guessed he wasn't the only one, but she hesitated a little before answering.

"You know, families, having kids. You know I used to think this was the best thing in the world, seeing so much but you miss everything else, and I mean… Owen and…." She stopped again. Ianto winced. Had she every really thought about things like that? Especially with Owen. That was the problem when you didn't have much to do with real life, when it appeared and gave you a quick slap in the face it occurred to you how important it was.

"And I hardly ever see my own family. All my cousins, nieces and nephews. I send them presents and cards but it's like I'm sending them to strangers."

"Maybe you should go and see them," Ianto suggested, probably stating the obvious.

He didn't have anyone to worry about now, he was in a way as alone as Jack was. It rather made them very perfect for each other, Ianto thought mildly. Then he jumped a little at the sound of the hub door opening, a second later Jack stuck his head through the curtain.

"Hello." He raised his eyebrows as he saw Ianto with Toshiko in his arms. Ianto shot him a 'don't you dare comment' look. Jack frowned but as he looked at Toshiko, a little glassy eyed and using Ianto's shoulder to try and hide the fact he decided to stay quiet, about that at least.

"Weevil sighting… I think… sounds weevilish, could be a hoix though, out by the waste grounds by the warehouses, wanna go hunting?" he asked Ianto.

"Okay, are you sure?"

"I think I should get you out of here before Owen kills you, he's throwing a tantrum to equal one of yours."

Ianto smirked. Toshiko looked up. "What?"

Jack grinned at her. "Ianto's rearranged… or at least I'm guessing it was you…," He glanced at Ianto, who continued to look smug. "Ianto has rearranged his entire filing system and moved all his equipment round."

"That'll teach him to spank me."

Jack raised his eyebrows, and in typical fashion Ianto thought to himself, said, "You don't go rearranging my files when I spank you."

Toshiko snorted with laughter; Ianto felt her shudder as she got the giggles. Ianto felt his face flush and Jack grinned, completely unashamed of himself.

"Let's go weevil hunting," Ianto said, disengaging himself from Toshiko, who was still giggling. At least we've cheered her up, Ianto thought to himself.

"I'll go and help Owen," Toshiko said through her laughter. Jack grinned at her as she passed him to go down into the hub, before turning his attention back to Ianto.

"Well, you don't," he added.

Ianto raised an eyebrow as he pulled his gun from out of the desk to check it was loaded.

"That's different, I'm a consenting adult on those occasions."

"And you're a consenting adult now," Jack said. Ianto paused and gave him a sly look.

"Are you making up weevil sightings again?"

"No, we do actually have to go catch this weevil, or whatever it is. But can we play consenting adults later?"

"And how does that work?" Ianto asked feigning innocence.

"Well, it's a bit like…"

It took Jack precisely twenty-four seconds to make Ianto blush as red as a beetroot.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

It was quite obvious, when they reached the warehouse, that aliens had been using it as a residence on and off, for some time. Ianto wrinkled his nose at the smell and looked around. The building was not a large open space but instead it was split into several different rooms. A lot of the brickwork looked like it was crumbling, the mortar splitting and ivy was growing in random places, as were several clumps of ragwort and yarrow, along with the odd poppy. Jack picked one and put it in the button hole of his coat.

Ianto watched him but didn't comment. Jack caught the look.

"I like poppies."

Before Ianto could comment they heard a snuffling sound echoing around the building. Jack raised his hand to halt Ianto and they both listened. It didn't sound like a weevil. Jack pointed in the direction they needed to go and headed off first. Ianto followed along behind, his gun ready, weevil spray in one pocket and a syringe of all-purpose sedative in the other. Jack carried the same.

"Is this an area that get's much rift activity?" Ianto asked Jack in a low tone as he looked around again, seeing clusters of ragged clothes and blankets, even a child's doll. That made him shudder a little, what did an alien want with that? It was missing a leg, and looked old. He just hoped they didn't have to look into the fate of the owner.

"No, not that Tosh has picked up on," Jack murmured back.

"So why does it look like they are congregating here?"

"Weevils are social animals, they do have a tendency to congregate on occasion. Maybe in this case it's because it's quiet, sort of a safe haven."

"And the fact that they understand that could mean…"

"Or it could mean they are just following a strong scent, let's not read too much into it as yet. Shush." Jack raised his hand again, there was another snuffling growl, closer this time. Jack traced the sound and indicated to Ianto to go left, through the nearest crumbling doorway. Jack made a gesture with his hand to indicate to Ianto that he should circle round, while Jack took the direct route, through the large archway and down the corridor.

Ianto nodded at him and moved off, he had his gun ready and he touched his jacket pocket to check the sedative was still there. He tried to ignore the hammering of his heart and the slick feeling of his palms as he gripped the gun. He moved through the warehouse, into the back area. The shadows were a little darker here, the sun struggling to get through the filthy windows. One or two were shattered allowing better light in but not enough to lift the gloom of the room.

The hairs on the back of his neck prickled as he heard a growl behind him. Ianto slowly turned, his gun lowered, unsure of what he was going to find. He spun on his heel and his eyes widened as he looked at a Hoix. It tilted its head as it stared at him and then growled. Ianto felt his lower lip tremble and he backed up violently, quickly. The Hoix watched the movement, and like any predator it reacted, coming forward, following him.

The fear surged up through Ianto and he looked around, wanting to cling to Jack, like last time. The memory of the Hoix in the cell launching itself forward, seeing him as prey, something to eat, rose in Ianto's mind. This one didn't think any different. The last time Ianto had Jack, he had clung to him, feeling tiny and vulnerable, but protected. He knew Jack was somewhere close, but not close enough. Ianto couldn't even summon up enough sense to call him.

Instead he just forgot everything that Jack had been teaching him, slowly training him for this. More carefully than he had any of the others. But even Jack wasn't aware of that, how careful he was with Ianto. That was nothing more than a subconscious reaction.

The Hoix shot forward and Ianto froze, he gave a cry of shock and terror.

"Ianto!" Jack shouted as he ran through the door. Seeing the situation he did the only thing he could, instinctively as he ran forward. He grabbed the Hoix and threw it off balance yanking it away from Ianto, who was now cowering in a corner. The Hoix spun round at the sudden attack and it pushed Jack. It literally threw him across the room so Jack slammed hard against one of the walls. The bricks groaned under the impact, a few loose chips fell from the wall and dust floated down onto Jack as he slumped down against the wall. Ianto screamed in terror.

The feelings rushed through him. The fear swamped him, as he remembered how scared he had felt, and so incredibly small. Without thinking, somewhere in his mind an instinct still ran, he raised the gun and fired at the Hoix. He emptied the entire clip into it as it ran across the room and out of the door. Ianto started to cry and he huddled in the corner, trying to get his breath back. Then through a mist of tears he looked for Jack.

Jack was slumped against the wall that he had been thrown in to. His eyes were closed, his body relaxed and there was a trace of blood running down the side of his head.

"Jack!" Ianto roared his name and struggled across the room to him. Jack lay still, Ianto scrabbled to try and check him. Was he dead? Ianto asked himself. If he was it was all his fault. There was no fairy tale to make that better.

As he pulled at Jack, yanking on his coat, a little unsure of what to do, all his mind could process was the panic he was feeling. He felt so scared and helpless, and it was Jack that made it better.

"Jack!" Ianto shouted again. A small, sensible part of his mind told him that Jack would be fine. But Ianto wanted him fine now, he wanted reassurance he wanted…

"Whoa!" Jack opened his eyes and lurched up. Ianto held him still, his hands gripping tightly to the lapels of Jack's coat. Ianto clung on his fingers working against the thick material as they had when he had been clutching Barney and the nervous action had soothed him.

"Ow!" Jack said slowly sitting up, shifting to rest his back against the wall. He pressed a hand to his head, he felt a trace of blood but nothing fatal, but he was going to ache for a while. He snapped back to attention as he suddenly realised Ianto was crying frantically, and scrabbling at him.

"Hey, hey come on I'm fine." Jack grabbed Ianto's wrists to try and steady him. But like when Ianto had clung to his leg desperately two days before, Ianto thought he was being pulled off and that only made him cling harder. Jack watched him carefully and for a moment didn't fight Ianto's death-like grip on him. He slowly straightened up against the wall and realised he was dealing with someone who was reacting like a three year old.

He knew there was nothing wrong with the scan but that didn't stop Ianto's recent feelings and memories making an impression.

"Ianto, come on now, let go a little, it's all right."

"I'm sorry!" Ianto sobbed, still not able to get himself under control.

Jack gave up trying to prise Ianto's hands off. There was a much easier way to deal with this, especially if his most recent memories were driving his reactions. Jack gently put his arms around Ianto's shoulders and pulled him close. Ianto dropped against him. It made Jack wince, his back hurt, and he was going to be bruised, but he'd get over it.

He pulled Ianto close, holding him gently and guiding Ianto's head down onto his shoulder. Ianto's grip changed, he wrapped his arms around Jack and buried his face into his coat. Jack held him and gently wound a hand through his hair. He held onto Ianto gently, trying to ease him out of his panic.

"It's all right Ianto, it's all right, you're safe, I'm fine. Calm down now."

Ianto sobbed onto him, not exactly dramatically but it was incredibly heartfelt. Jack didn't try to rush him, he knew the Hoix was long gone and there was nothing else in the area. He had scanned for that. But he didn't feel much inclined to linger.

Still he didn't want to upset Ianto further by forcing him to move. So Jack, instead, sat there and held onto Ianto, running his fingers through his hair and keeping an arm around him.

"It's all right, come on, calm down now."

"I'm sorry," Ianto's breath hitched violently. "I just got so…." Ianto sobbed again.

"What?" Jack asked gently.

"Scared," Ianto whimpered his voice very childlike. Jack kissed him on the top of his head and held onto him, cursing himself. He shouldn't have taken Ianto out, even with something as simple as a weevil hunt, or Hoix hunt as it turned out. Jack should have known better, the last two days wasn't something that could be shrugged off that easily. But he had wanted to be with Ianto. It had been a little hard since he had come back from his infancy, trying to get a moment with him, and Jack liked hunting with him. Ianto was usually so instinctively good at it.

"Ianto, it's all right. I know, I shouldn't have brought you out, not so soon after… I'm sorry, I'm here."

He rocked Ianto gently. Treating him the only way he could, in an approximate way to when Ianto was a child. Ianto settled against him and Jack shushed him gently, murmuring endearments to him. They couldn't stay there forever, but Jack didn't want to move too soon, his back was throbbing. He'd be able to move in a minute. On the flip side, he didn't want to drive straight back to the hub, Ianto wasn't up to coping with that. Plus Jack didn't fancy facing the wrath of Gwen, Owen and Tosh combined. That was, when it was in action, a pretty formidable combination.

Very slowly, making sure he was up to moving and lifting Ianto with him Jack got them both onto his feet. Ianto held on, which Jack used to keep himself steady. His shoulder throbbed painfully. It had taken most of the damage but as he manoeuvred his grip on Ianto he realised he could still work his arm.

"Come on, let's get you out of here."

Ianto sniffed and nodded, his arms stayed around Jack, afraid to let him go. Jack wondered what the hell to do, where the hell could they go, just for a little while, so he could work out how to deal with Ianto.

Then he had a flashing moment of inspiration.

"Come on Ianto, it's all right. I'll look after you."

Ianto's sniffling paused long enough for him to say, very calmly. "I know."

That was something, Jack thought to himself, as he slowly led Ianto out of the warehouse.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Hello," Rhys said brightly as he picked up the intercom. He wasn't expecting someone to call on Sunday afternoon. When the buzzer had gone he had been cleaning out the cooker. Since Gwen had started working for Torchwood somehow the flat had become his responsibility. She was never around to do it.

"Rhys, it's Jack."

He frowned, that was the last thing he was expecting.

"Jack, what…?"

"Can we come in? Ianto needs…"

He didn't need to say anymore. Rhys hit the buzzer to allow them in, and then replaced the receiver back down. He thought about it for a moment. Why would Jack be bringing Ianto over, unless of course, he was back to being a child again? That was the first thing that occurred to Rhys. He opened the door and went out into the corridor. As he reached the top of the stairs he met them coming up.

Ianto was most definitely not a child, but he looked violently shaken up. Jack didn't look much better in Rhys' opinion. There was some kind of dust in his hair and a trace of blood on the side of his head. Chips of brick were lodged in the material of his coat.

"Sorry," Jack said, as he saw Rhys.

"It's fine," Rhys replied seeing the state of both of them. "Come in."

He led the way back to the flat and went down into the kitchen to close up the oven for a moment and pull off the pink rubber gloves he was wearing. Then he went for the kettle, thinking that the best thing to do was make tea.

"Ianto?"

He heard Jack's voice from the hallway.

"Take your shoes off," Ianto insisted in a rather stressed voice. Rhys went around the counter to intervene but he paused as he watched Jack carefully pull off his coat and hang it up then he pulled off his boots. Ianto was already out of his jacket and his shoes were on the mat. Rhys remembered making little Ianto take his boots off when the came back from the park. Before he could ask any questions Jack had his boots off and he was carefully leading Ianto into the flat. Rhys backed off and moved the cushions on the sofa so they could sit down.

Jack got Ianto settled and sat next to him, keeping his arms around him. Ianto blinked, almost sleepily and leant against Jack. Jack glanced over at Rhys.

"Sorry for barging in," Jack said. Rhys shrugged going into a cupboard for a teapot. He threw four teabags into it and left it by the kettle. He moved around the sofa to look at Ianto.

"That's all right, what happened?"

"A weevil hunt, well hoix hunt as it goes, that went awry," Jack said with a slight grimace. "I'm guessing Ianto's memory hasn't quite caught up with his return change just yet."

"Will he be all right? He said there wasn't any after effects, or ones that anyone knew about at least."

"I think so."

"Is he hurt?" Rhys asked, he moved closer to Ianto's other side to try and look him over. Jack had done the same several times, but Ianto hadn't come on the rough end of the Hoix, and Jack also noticed that Rhys didn't ask about him.

However as they both started looking Ianto over, he raised his head.

"He isn't deaf you know," Ianto said. "When I'm small enough for conversations to go over my head I don't mind, but I can actually hear you, you know."

"Sorry," Rhys said looking at Ianto. "What happened?"

Ianto blinked, "what Jack said really. I just felt like I did when the Hoix jumped at me down in the vaults. The memory just… things have been clicking into place, making more sense as I go along. It just kind of jumped out at me."

"Very literally. I'm sorry, I should have thought more about it before taking you with me," Jack said. The look on Rhys' face told Jack that he heartily agreed with him. Ianto turned to Jack and Rhys went to pour the boiling water into the teapot.

"It's not your fault Jack, I just… I'll be all right. Are you all right? I thought for a minute that you'd…." He stopped, thankfully before he could say too much in front of Rhys. Jack tightened his grip on Ianto but this time Ianto fought him so he could look at Jack's head wound. Jack winced slightly.

"It's all right, Ianto. I'm fine, just a bit of bruising. Please don't cry."

Ianto put his head down on Jack's shoulder. Jack held onto him tightly, feeling Ianto shudder.

"Come on, Ianto. Come on, it's all right."

Jack tracked Rhys' progress as he move round to his side of the sofa and he tentatively examined Jack's head wound. Jack winced as he felt the light touch.

"What happened, did you knock it?"

Jack shook his head. "Just a bit of debris from the wall. Nothing serious."

"I'll find the first aid kit and clean that up. I don't think you should go back with blood in your hair," Rhys said. He wandered away. "Unless Gwen's moved it…" he shouted as he disappeared into the flat. "… It should be in the bathroom."

Jack stayed where he was and tucked Ianto tighter to him. Ianto let him, clinging on. He gripped onto Jack, one hand clinging onto his shirt tightly, bunching up the material in his hand. Jack rocked him gently, running his hand up and down Ianto's back and he kissed him lightly on the temple.

"I'm sorry. I didn't really think that any of it was still lingering. I'll get Owen to double check you when we get back."

"Please don't tell him why, I just…"

"Shush, it's all right I won't." Jack said. "I guess it was my fault, well all of faults really."

"Why?"

"I think we all rather enjoyed having you running around as a little kid. You were very sweet."

"Oh God, Jack…" Ianto didn't sound angry, Jack noted, just a little resigned and slightly amused.

"You were, and we all rather indulged you. Maybe that made more than a lasting impression on you."

Ianto groaned into his shoulder. Jack hugged him tighter.

"And you just seemed so happy, when everything was so uncomplicated. It was a little hard to not want you to be like that."

Ianto stirred against him, bringing his head up so his cheek brushed against Jack's.

"But I am happy."

"What?" Jack let Ianto pull himself back so he could look into his eyes. Ianto's confused eyes met Jack's and for a moment Ianto did nothing but look at him, Jack saw the slight flicker of anger in there, but that faded away quickly.

"Jack, you don't think I'm happy?" The anger had changed to worry. Jack reached up to cup Ianto's chin, to make sure he kept looking him in the eye.

"I don't think it's as simple as that," Jack said gently. "There are so many other things to take into consideration that being happy, or not, kind of gets lost."

"No, it doesn't!" Ianto snapped at him. He frowned, gazing at Jack intently. "Of course I'm happy, with you, with Torchwood, it's… it's what I want. If I didn't I would have walked away, you know that."

Jack frowned, he actually didn't. He had just felt that Ianto was tied there by everything that happened and that sleeping with him was just another way for Ianto to hold on.

"Being with you, it's not just some desperation move for control," Ianto said.

There had been some of that at the beginning. And Ianto knew he had worked the situation over the last few days to his advantage.

"I want to be with you, so much so it's almost painful at times," Ianto said with utter honesty. "And not just because of your dashing hero persona, but because of you, the you that gets hurt, that has to do all the hard things because you don't want anyone else to have to do them, and the insecure, frightened you as well. I couldn't be anywhere else now, and it makes me happy that I am there."

Rhys lingered in the corridor. It had taken him a little while to find the first aid kit. Gwen had moved it again, which she usually did when she was hiding some sort of injury. Even minor things she now and again treated without him knowing, just so she didn't have to explain it.

He backed up a little as he heard what Ianto was saying. It was definitely not a moment to interrupt to bring them a first aid kit. Nor did he want them to know, or even think, that he was listening. As he moved back he made sure he didn't touch the creaky floorboard. He'd wait another minute or so before returning, with heavy footfalls and coughing.

For now, however, he thought that Ianto probably ought to get whatever he was feeling off his chest.

Jack and Ianto gazed as each other. Jack felt more than a little stunned. He had sometimes wondered when he returned if he had carried on his relationship with Ianto out of guilt, seeing the devastation he had wreaked on him. Or even if it had just been convenient, Jack didn't like being alone, physically anyway, being so out of his time, loneliness was an almost inevitable factor emotionally. What he hadn't realised was that he might have sought Ianto out again because Jack actually needed him. Someone that understood, that had suffered almost literally at Jack's hands, and yet somehow could forgive, and could love him.

With all that running through his mind Jack lent forward and kissed Ianto gently. Ianto responded, leaning into Jack and kissing him back passionately. Jack remembered the giggling little boy running around the water tower, who had seemed so happy, playing about. Was it really that simple? That Ianto was just happy to be around him, and be with him.

For a moment they stayed locked together until there was the sound of heavy footsteps and Rhys literally crashed into the living room. Jack and Ianto pulled apart and smiled at each other. Rhys moved across the room and handed Ianto the first aid kit.

"I'll let you clean him up, I'll pour the tea."

"Thanks," Ianto said. Rhys shrugged and moved around to stir the contents of the teapot and pour it out into mugs while Ianto mopped up the blood on Jack's head, making him wince on occasion. For a moment none of them spoke, Rhys just offered mugs around and Jack tried to sit still.

Rhys watched them for a moment. "So, I'm guessing this is something I shouldn't mention to Gwen."

Ianto grimaced but nodded. "Yeah, please don't."

Rhys rolled his eyes a little wryly. This keeping secrets was bloody hard work in his opinion. Still he didn't comment, he waited for Jack and Ianto to drink their tea, they talked about nothing in particular and then they went on their way.

As they reached the door, they paused obviously to thank him. Rhys decided to cut them off before they could start. He looked at Jack.

"You know, you might try joining us in the real world once in a while, you might find it's not as scary as you seem to think."

Very slowly Rhys closed the door on them and went to the window. He could just about see them as they made their way to the SUV. Jack was hobbling a little but Ianto seemed fine, which was good since he concerned Rhys the most. He watched Jack lean over and kiss him again, Ianto responded and then laughed at something Jack said.

Rhys rolled his eyes and sighed, going back to the nice normal job of cleaning the oven. That was as much drama as he wanted on a Sunday afternoon.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Later that afternoon, Gwen made her way out through the Tourist Office. As she reached the door the beaded curtain rattled and she jumped as Ianto appeared from the back, carrying a brown file with the Torchwood logo emblazed on the front.

"Oh, you made me jump."

"Sorry," Ianto smiled and held out the folder. "That's the information… Jack said you wanted to know about the maternity policy."

Gwen took the folder off him and offered a tentative smile in return. Ianto had been rather quiet that afternoon, after he and Jack had returned empty handed, and had gone about his work in his usual quiet way, retreating up to the tourist office as soon as he could. Jack left him alone, and ordered everyone else to do the same. There wasn't much else they could do after that.

She looked at the file, flipping it open to scan the sheets of paper, neatly printed out.

"It's all there," Ianto said. "I sent a copy to Jack earlier so he's added some corrections to it. I dare say if you want to try and make some changes of your own he'll be prepared to think about it."

"Really?"

"I should think so; he's tinkered with most of the policies at one time or another. I usually type them," Ianto added by way of explanation.

"No wonder you know so much about it," Gwen said. Ianto smiled at her, watching as she skimmed through some of the sheets, her face screwed up with confusion.

"Are you all right?" Ianto asked. He wasn't quite sure what else to say. He could have offered an opinion of Rhys' parenting skills, he was the one who had managed to experience them first hand, and really couldn't find anything wrong with it. Although it was only one afternoon Ianto had to say instinctively Rhys was rather good at dealing with kids.

"Yeah," Gwen said, her voice a little distracted. Ianto frowned, realising it might not be Rhys' skills she was worried about but actually her own. Or maybe it was something she didn't want to do now, since her life had changed rather dramatically. Torchwood did that to you, Ianto knew. It had happened to him when all was said and done.

Ianto was about to back off and leave her alone when her head came up and she looked at him with slightly wide, startled eyes. She slipped the papers back together and closed the file, hugging it to her chest.

"It's just…" she stopped and gave a slight smile.

She looked at Ianto almost as if she couldn't work out if she should actually talk to him or not. Maybe not, Ianto thought, he very clearly remembered the feelings he had for her over the last few days. He hadn't really thought about the level of distrust he felt for her and the jealousy. Ianto understood why Jack liked her, and flirted with her but he didn't have to like it. As long as he kept his dislike to himself it was fine, surely. Now he waited to see if she would actually speak what was so very clearly on her mind.

"Well, Jack keeps talking about not letting my life drift, like it's so important to him. If it's that important, why doesn't he do it himself? I mean has he ever thought about it…" she tailed off, realising Ianto was gazing at her with his usual impenetrable gaze. As he smiled he looked just a little patronizing.

"Gwen, he was born in the 51st century, and God knows where in the universe. He travelled around for this mysterious Time Agency, taking different people's lives and identities, probably for so long that he's completely forgotten his own. Then he got stuck here for over a hundred years waiting for, and trying to protect, someone who abandoned him but yet he still can't seem to live without. And who he ran away from us for, but then came back… for us."

Ianto paused to take a breath, his eyes never leaving hers.

"This is his normal life, Gwen. This is as normal and stable as it's ever going to get for him. Torchwood and Cardiff are what he considers to be normal, chasing aliens and technology, saving the planet. I can only guess part of that is what the Time Agency used to do and I've rooted out enough information to know that it's definitely what The Doctor does. Whether he's travelling or he's here, Jack is doing what is normal life for him."

Gwen listened open mouthed. She'd never really heard Ianto say so much, not in the one go. And he wasn't quite finished. He hadn't really thought that he needed to get anything off his chest but now he'd started he couldn't seem to stop. It was probably himself that needed to hear it, all the random odd thoughts that had been reeling around his head for years.

"Why do you think, from all of the Torchwood employees that he's seen die, probably just as unfairly, did he bring back Owen, just because he never really got a chance to say…." Ianto stopped, and re-collected his thoughts. Gwen was staring at him as if she had never seen him before in her life, with that wide eyed look that seemed to work so well on Jack.

"Jack chose us Gwen, not just when he came back, but he chose us way before then. We were the people that he recruited to Torchwood when he took it over. However he managed to find us, he chose us, other than his decision to hang out here to wait for The Doctor I think those are the only real conscious choices he has made."

"You don't know that for certain do you," Gwen snapped. She didn't feel like getting a lecture from someone who earlier that morning had been three foot tall. Ianto didn't react to her, he carried on talking.

"That's why he keeps reminding you. That's why he listens to you. Just because it's not his idea of a normal life doesn't make it any less valid. And he knows what normal comprises for all of us, and he tries to keep it that way."

"And you idea of normal is staying here, with him?" Gwen asked. She could hear the acidity in her voice. Ianto blinked, but didn't seem to be disturbed by the mild aggression.

"It's how I cope, it's my choice," Ianto replied mildly. "And I'm happy with it."

With that he was obviously finished. His face was a little flushed from his rant but as he stopped his face resumed his normal pleasant neutrality. He gave his usual smile.

"Good night Gwen."

Gwen blinked, almost as if shaking her self out of a trance. She turned to the door and went to leave the little office. She glanced back once to look at Ianto, but he was already gone, disappearing behind the curtain into his little office. Very slowly Gwen walked out into the late afternoon sun closing the door carefully behind her.


	12. Chapter 12

Rhys was out when Gwen returned. He had pinned a note to the fridge. 'Gone to shop, need wine, lasagne in oven. I cleaned, so don't mess up bathroom with all your hair.' He'd drawn a smiley face with mad hair around it and added about thirty kisses to the bottom. Gwen smiled, she thought about taking a shower but realised she had one more thing to do. Carefully she put the file down on the coffee table.

In five minutes she'd be ready.

Rhys returned in ten. As he wandered into the room he smiled at Gwen sat on the sofa. She was holding a mug of steaming liquid.

"Hiya, I've got something better than that," he said. "Two actually, they were doing an offer, I don't know what it's going to taste like, I got a red and a white. Which do you want? I know red goes with Italian, I think…" Rhys rambled on as he wandered into the kitchen to find the corkscrew. Gwen spread out the items on the coffee table, tilting her head as she looked at them.

As Rhys carried on talking she thought back to what Ianto had said, and to the paperwork he had so neatly typed and printed for her, and the feeling of him as a little boy, sat in her lap and giggling with Rhys, who seemed so capable of coping with it. Elation was getting that last final push, determined to win the conflict.

"Oi, red or white?" Rhys asked, getting her attention. She didn't look round.

"Nothing for me, I'm fine," Gwen said calmly. Rhys didn't look up he was busy trying to get to the cork on the bottle of red.

"Not like you to turn down wine."

Gwen took a breath; her voice was almost casual in her response. "Not like me to be pregnant."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Ianto rested against the door frame of Jack's office and looked at Jack, who was studying the piece of paper that Ianto had scrawled on yesterday. He didn't turn around but Ianto noticed the screen Jack had been watching was feeding from the camera in the tourist office.

"Nice speech," Jack said in a low tone. Ianto looked down at his shoes and then back up again.

"Am I wrong?" he asked. There was a pause. Jack turned in his chair and held out his hand. Ianto reached out to meet him and was pulled down onto Jack's lap. They twined their arms around each other. He felt Jack bury his face into his chest and Ianto knew.

He wasn't wrong at all.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"I think we ought to consider re-carpeting your office," Ianto said. He lay sprawled on his back, on said office floor, tucked into Jack's coat, which had been the nearest warm thing for Jack to wrap him up in. Jack lay next to him, on his side, his head propped in one hand and the other hand traced lazy patterns across Ianto's chest.

"What something thick and comfortable?"

"Since we never seem to make it anywhere close to your bed it might be an idea," Ianto commented, wriggling closer to him.

"If that's your theory then we'd better carpet the entire hub, and you're cleaning up the pterodactyl mess."

"I clean it anyway," Ianto pointed out.

"Off nice smooth sterile floors, not thick shag pile carpets. Very aptly named though." Jack allowed Ianto's wriggling so Ianto could tuck himself tighter to him. Jack's gentle stroking carried on, he moved lower over Ianto's torso, down his navel and almost to his groin.

"True," Ianto said. "We need to think of something though." He raised one of his hands and flexed it slightly. "I always seem to get bad friction burns when we're here."

Jack's hand moved lower, sliding between Ianto's legs. Ianto shuddered.

"Are you sure that's not from when you were pushed off the play area by that horrible bully?"

Ianto smiled and rolled his eyes. "Yes, Jack I'm sure. It's bad enough Owen's getting mileage out of this, never mind you as well."

Jack laughed. A sound that made Ianto shiver. He knew it well enough. The stroking between his legs intensified slightly and Jack leant down to nuzzle into his neck finding the sensitive points, to make Ianto shudder again.

"I missed you," Jack said as Ianto moaned and jerked violently under his touch.

"I didn't go anywhere."

"Yeah, but you weren't you. Well, you were, but I like you complicated, and not in nappies."

Ianto laughed. He stirred a little against Jack's touch and then forced himself to concentrate.

"Speaking of complicated…"

"Uh-huh," Jack murmured as he traced his tongue around Ianto's left nipple. Ianto blinked and ran his fingers into Jack's hair.

"Your fairy tale last night…"

Jack stopped licking and raised his head slightly. His eyes looked focussed on Ianto's torso, but in actual fact he was seeing nothing. His eyes, mind and senses suddenly went blank. Until Ianto tugged on his hair and rose up slightly, propping himself up as he realised Jack had reacted badly.

"Jack?"

He snapped out of it swiftly, looking into Ianto's concerned blue eyes.

"Sorry."

"I didn't imagine it, did I? I remember it as clearly as everything else. The Doctor, the TARDIS, The Master, it was when you went missing. That was what you were telling me about, wasn't it?"

Jack's eyes had gone horribly dull. Ianto ran his fingers gently over Jack's face. The touch spurred Jack on, slowly and miserably he nodded. It seemed fine as a fairy tale; he could play it down, make the horrors less real.

"Oh Jack," Ianto said sadly. Jack turned away, looking down at the well worn carpet. Ianto was right, he thought to himself, he really did need a new carpet. He flinched as he realised Ianto had moved, sitting up slightly and flipping Jack's coat so it could cover both of them.

"You made it sound like it was longer than it was."

"It was, for me, for all of us there. It was a year, but The Doctor reset it," Jack said, and then he paused and frowned. "No, actually, I reset it, I destroyed the paradox. I set everything right."

"The paradox?" Ianto for a moment sounded confused. Then he slowly nodded. "The magical box that stopped time."

"You remember that part?"

"I don't remember much after that, I think I feel asleep around that point," Ianto said.

"Yes, I carried on for a while after that. I was so busy telling the story I didn't realise I'd bored my audience."

"You hadn't bored me, Jack. You made me understand it, you waited for The Doctor for so long, it made sense that you ran away from us."

"I didn't run away from you! That was never part of my plan!" Jack said, his voice rising slightly. Ianto ran a hand around Jack's waist, pulling him close again. Jack didn't resist as Ianto pulled him nearer drawing the coat around them both at the same time.

"It was just when he finally came, I knew it would be a long time I'd have to wait, I couldn't let the opportunity pass by. He tried to run away from me."

"All the way to the end of the universe?"

Jack nodded. He cuddled closer to Ianto and Ianto curled his arms around Jack. Ianto ran his fingers through Jack's hair and kissed him gently. For a moment it was quiet between them and then Ianto said the words that Jack knew were coming in one form or another.

"Tell me the rest."

"All the gory details," Jack said with a slight catch to his voice.

"Tell me the fairy story," Ianto said, his fingers twining tighter into Jack's hair. Jack blinked and settled himself closer to Ianto. There was one moment that Ianto thought Jack was going to refuse him. He tensed, and then very slowly, almost as if he was concentrating on it intently, Jack relaxed.

"From when The Master took the Valiant. That's the last part I remember," Ianto prompted.

Jack felt Ianto kiss him lightly on the cheek. Jack felt the lithe, warm body against his, the hard floor underneath him and the material of his coat tucked gently around both of them. His mind ran back over the last two days. Of little Ianto, clinging desperately to him as the only stable thing in his life, and the fact that Ianto knew so well that Torchwood and the people in it was the most stable thing in Jack's life.

Then his mind turned again and he took a deep breath.

"The Evil Master had taken The Doctor's precious magical machine and using his…"

Jack started talking, and Ianto listened, saying nothing, just listening as Jack told a story, an unreal story, one that didn't exist. But still, somehow, in the hearts of a few it lingered.

At the end as Jack lay tearful and exhausted in Ianto's arms, Ianto gently kissed him and told him everything was going to be all right.

And for the first time in his life, Jack actually believed that.


End file.
